Alloa Sheriff Court and Justice of the Peace Court

Alloa Sheriff Court and Justice of the Peace Court

This is a courthouse of Grade B listed status, built in two main phases. The principal structure was designed by Brown and Wardrop and built between 1863 and 1865. The building was later extended towards Drysdale Street with additions by William Kerr, completed in 1910 and again in 1938. A 2-storey and basement office block adjoins the former police station to the east, though this later addition is not considered of special architectural interest for listing purposes.

The main 1860s courthouse is a substantial 2-storey and basement structure with a rectangular plan, arranged symmetrically across seven bays in the Franco-Scots baronial style. An engaged three-quarter-stage square clock tower projects from the northeast corner.

The exterior is built in dressed, snecked rubble. Horizontal emphasis is provided by a base course, string course and eaves course, all stepped at the centre and incorporating carved panels. The building is crowned with coped, crowstepped gables finished with finials and heraldic panels representing the leading proprietors of the county.

The windows are a mix of bipartite and tripartite openings set in basket arches with stone mullions and transoms. Each is topped with a hoodmould featuring pendant label stops.

The principal west elevation presents a particularly grand composition. A basket-arched doorpiece forms the centrepiece, flanked by stepped buttresses that support a balustraded balcony at first-floor level, with moulded corbels at either end. Above the balcony runs an arcaded parapet with corner piers, each topped by carved lions holding shields bearing the crosses of St Andrew and St George. The crowstepped gable above the central section displays the Royal Arms carved in stone, set between decorated angled finials with griffons at the base and a lion rampant supporting a weathervane at the apex. This central gable is flanked by two smaller gables of similar detailing, each incorporating carved panels. Hexagonal corner chimneys rise at intervals along this elevation.

The north gable is marked with a date placed beneath the monogram of Queen Victoria. The south gable bears carved stone panels, one with a monogram and the other with a crest.

The clock tower at the northeast corner begins with splayed angle corbelling that transitions to a square plan at first-floor level. A corbelled circular turret rises between the first and second floors at the east corner. The parapet steps upward at the centre into small gablets which frame a clock manufactured by Ritchie and Sons of Edinburgh. The roof above is steeply pitched with fish-scale slate covering and features a bargeboarded lucarne window on the west pitch.

The 1910 block facing Drysdale Street is a 2-bay, 2-storey structure with a further 2 bays added in 1937. Its windows are flat arched, arranged in tripartite and bipartite patterns with moulded stone mullions and transoms. A 3-sided oriel window projects at the northeast corner. This block connects to the 1860s courthouse through a set-back 2-storey single-bay linking section, which has a carved panel positioned above its entrance door.

Throughout the building, glazing patterns in timber frames are varied. Pitched slate roofs cover all sections, and iron rainwater goods with dated hoppers serve the exterior.

The interior, inspected in 2014, centres on a double-height courtroom (Courtroom 2) at first-floor level, fitted with substantial timber fixtures. A half-turn staircase with landings and a barley sugar cast iron balustrade rises through the building, with a lift positioned at its centre. The stairwell is lit by a tripartite window and finished with a coved and ribbed ceiling. Courtroom 2 contains a panelled timber judge's bench, witness box, dock and well barrier. Dado-height painted timber boarding lines the walls, interrupted by round arched alcoves positioned behind the bench. Public seating is of later replacement. The courtroom roof features hammer beam timber trusses springing from stone corbels, embellished with large ornamental brass fittings for gas lamps at the roof ventilators. Courtroom 2 at ground floor (formerly the sheriff clerk's office) is fitted with an iron fireplace in a timber surround. Throughout the interior, doors are predominantly panelled, as are window ingoes, finished with shouldered architraves.

The boundary walls are built in tooled stone with chamfered ashlar copes and iron railings on top. Octagonal gatepiers with chamfered caps mark the entrance, each topped with the base of an iron lamp standard.