Royal Courts of Justice, Chichester Street, Belfast, BT1 3JY

Royal Courts of Justice, Chichester Street, Belfast

A detached, symmetrical, multi-bay three-storey courthouse over basement with attic storey, built around 1933 to designs by James G. West. The building is clad in Portland limestone in the neo-classical style and is arranged quadrangularly on plan with advanced corner pavilion blocks surrounding a central courtyard. Principal elevations face north onto Chichester Street and south onto May Street, with the east side elevation fronting Victoria Street. The building is enclosed by decorative iron railings on a balustraded stone wall to the north and south, while a tall stone-clad wall encloses the east side elevation.

The pitched natural slate roofs are hidden behind stone parapets with moulded coping. The Portland limestone ashlar walling features a rock-faced rusticated plinth course and a full-span modillioned cornice below the attic storey, enriched with coffer panels and full entablature decorated with egg-and-dart, leaf-and-dart and bead mouldings. The courtyard elevations are of machine-made red brick laid in Dutch bond. Window openings are square-headed with multi-pane powder-coated steel casement windows.

The colonnaded principal north elevation is thirteen windows wide and features a central tetrastyle portico in antis articulated by four Corinthian columns on rock-faced rusticated plinths supporting a continuous entablature. Responding Corinthian pilasters within the portico have three panels to the soffit. All windows are flanked by Giant order engaged Corinthian columns, with the corner pavilions fully framed by additional pairs of Corinthian pilasters. The attic storey has segmental-headed window openings on the pavilion blocks set within semi-circular recesses with stepped keystones embellished with cartouches. First floor windows have architrave surrounds with stepped keystones, cornices and moulded sills with shallow apron panels. Ground floor windows have Gibbsian-type architrave surrounds with segmental pediments and a continuous sill course. The central first floor window within the portico features a decoratively carved Royal coat of arms.

The principal north elevation portico has a square-headed door opening with Gibbsian-type architrave surround embellished with leaf-and-dart mouldings, stepped keystone and decorative lintel cornice. The original double-leaf hardwood doors each have five panels with decorative mouldings and brass door furniture. The door opens onto a stone paved portico with four nosed steps and a pair of elaborate cast-iron lamp standards. The west pavilion has a further square-headed door opening with Gibbsian-type architrave surround, double-leaf timber doors, plain stone lintel and multi-pane overlight, opening onto four nosed stone steps.

The east side elevation is nineteen windows wide with advanced corner pavilion blocks detailed as per the front elevation. The secondary south elevation is thirteen windows wide with a central tetrastyle portico in antis articulated by two Corinthian columns and two Corinthian corner pilasters on rock-faced rusticated plinths supporting a continuous entablature. All window openings are detailed as per the north front elevation flanked by full-height Corinthian pilasters, with a central square-headed door opening detailed as per the front elevation. The west side elevation is eighteen windows wide with advanced corner pavilion blocks detailed as per the front elevation.

The internal courtyard has symmetrical four-storey red brick elevations with a three-storey block at the centre set on a north-south axis, possibly with additional storeys added around 1950. Each elevation has a central gabled projection. The former courtyard has been infilled with late twentieth-century flat-roofed single-storey structures. Gauged brick flat-arched window openings have powder-coated multi-pane steel casement windows and masonry sills flanked by shallow brick pilasters with limestone heads. Limestone ashlar coping runs throughout with circular stone panels to the north and south gables inscribed 'A.D. 1932' to the north and having a 'Hand of Ulster' carving to the south. Circular steel windows to occuli are located on the east and west projections.

The building fronts onto Chichester Street with its east side elevation fronting onto Victoria Street and secondary elevation fronting onto May Street. A small lawned front area to the north has both north and south elevations enclosed by iron railings on balustraded Portland limestone walls surmounted by decorative cast-iron lamps. Elaborate cast-iron gates face each pavilion block on both north and south elevations, framed by decorative cast-iron lamps. Bitmac paved parking areas occupy the east, south and west sides. The east elevation is enclosed to the street by a double-height Portland limestone wall with continuous mouldings presenting a defensive character to the streetscape.

A detached single-storey Portland limestone gate lodge is located to the northwest, having symmetrical elevations and a continuous cornice below the parapet. Square-headed window openings contain multi-pane steel casement windows. A recessed central square-headed door opening on the north and east elevations is flanked by Doric columns and has double-leaf hardwood panelled doors with multi-pane overlights.