Elgin Sheriff Court including boundary wall and railings, High Street and Glover Street, Elgin, Elgin, Moray

Description

A and W Reid, 1864-66, extended to rear in 1993. 2 storey, 5-bay, symmetrical classical court house on a corner site, with slightly advanced, 3-bay centre surmounted by panelled parapet. Channelled ashlar at ground floor with polished ashlar above. Squared and snecked rubble to rear with ashlar dressings. Base and band courses; mutuled eaves cornice. Vermiculated quoins at first floor. Recessed 2-leaf panelled timber entrance doors and approached by shallow flight of steps. First floor windows have blind balustrade and bracketed cornice. first floor of advanced centre is flanked by paired Ionic pilasters with the central window flanked by paired and engaged Ionic columns. Courtroom windows are round-arched with keystone. Glover Street (east) elevation with shorter 2-storey, 3-bay range to left of and slightly set back from 2-bay return of front block and further single storey, 4-bay range (2 bays added circa 1993 to create holding cell block).

4-pane glazing in timber sash and case windows. Corniced wallhead stacks with octagonal cans. Piended platform slate roof.

The interior, seen in 2014, is arranged around a west facing ground floor courtroom. Courtroom 1 with panelled timber judge's bench, witness box, jury box, dock and well, as well as timber boarding to dado height. Bracketted canopy over bench with decorative pediment. Raked public seating. Hoodmouldings and stops with flower motif. Mutuled cornice with compartmented plaster ceiling with inset ceiling rose. Panelled timber doors set within architraves with panelled jambs flanked bench and leading to jury room and judge's chambers, both with deep combed cornice. Courtroom 2 (to east of plan) has replacement fixtures and fittings. Dog leg staircase to east of entrance with composite square and barley sugar balusters and timber handrail. Barrel vaulted and ribbed corridor running north to south. Some window shutters. Panelled timber doors.

Statement of Interest

Elgin Sheriff Court dates from 1864-66 and is a significant example of civic architecture in Elgin town centre. The building was designed in the neoclassical style to respond to its setting and is little altered to the exterior, with good stonework details such as balustrades to first floor windows, mutuled eaves cornice and an advanced centre with paired Ionic pilasters and columns. The interior has good mid-19th century detailing, particularly to the ground floor courtroom which has a carved timber canopy to the bench and a decorative plaster ceiling.

Elgin Sheriff Court was designed by Alexander and William Reid in 1864 and was officially opened on 14 January 1866. The court house was built adjacent to and on the same building line as an 1837 court house and county offices by their uncle, William Robertson. The 1837 court house had become too small and the Elginshire Commissioners of Supply were among the first to make use of the central funding offered by the Treasury, under the terms of the Sheriff Court Houses (Scotland) Act of 1860.

With the exception of the 2-bay addition to the rear, which was added in 1993 to improve holding cell accommodation after a fire in the 1980s, the footprint of the building is largely unaltered to that shown on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1868. The 1837 court house was demolished after the Second World War and replaced with the current county offices.

Alexander Reid (1816-97) and William Reid (1825-93) were nephews and pupils of William Robertson of Elgin and inherited his practice following his death in 1841. They were a prolific architectural practice with work ranging from private villas to churches and prominent public buildings. They were accomplished in the neoclassical style, as is evident at Elgin Sheriff Court as well as the former Caledonian Bank on the High Street in Elgin and the former Elgin Academy (see separate listings).

The development of the court house as a building type in Scotland follows the history of the Scottish legal system and wider government reforms. The majority of purpose-built court houses were constructed in the 19th century as by this time there was an increase in the separation of civic, administrative and penal functions into separate civic and institutional buildings, and the resultant surge of public building was promoted by new institutional bodies. The introduction of the Sheriff Court Houses (Scotland) Act of 1860 gave a major impetus to the increase and improvement of court accommodation and the provision of central funding was followed by the most active period of sheriff court house construction in the history of the Scottish legal system, and many new court houses were built or reworked after this date.

Court houses constructed after 1860 generally had a solely legal purpose and did not incorporate a prison, other than temporary holding cells. The courts were designed in a variety of architectural styles but often relied heavily on Scots Baronial features to reference the fortified Scottish building tradition. Newly constructed court buildings in the second half of the 19th century dispensed with large public spaces such as county halls and instead provided bespoke office accommodation for the sheriff, judge and clerks, and accommodated the numerous types of court and holding cells.

Statutory address and listed building record revised as part of the Scottish Courts Listing Review 2014-15. Previously listed as 'High Street (South Side) Sheriff Court'.

External Links

Historic Environment Scotland Listing

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