Accommodating both the Court of Appeal and the High Court, it was built on a six acre campus which cost nearly £1.5m and was previously the site of 450 houses, which were demolished.had to be demolished.
For more information, to save your author copying it all out, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Courts_of_Justice
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As with all courts, the general public are allowed to go in and sit in any of the court rooms - with the occasional exception of family cases.
ReplyDeleteIt's quite an impressive interior and you are free to just wander around most of it.
I heard, on a London Walk, that the reason it looks like a church is because Street was nearing the end of his career and he always wanted to design a church and never had... apocryphal?
ReplyDeleteYeah apocryphal I think, Street was 33 when he first came up with the gothic design (though it took many years before it was built). According to Wikipedia most of his work was 'for ecclesiastical uses, the largest being the nave of Bristol Cathedral and the restoration of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin. Chief amongst his complete works include the convent of East Grinstead and the theological college at Cuddesdon. He is recorded as having worked on 179 Anglican ecclesiastical buildings for the Incorporated Church Building Society alone.'
ReplyDeleteMost of the rival designs for the Royal Courts of Justice were in variations of gothic style too, as it was in vogue and also was felt to be particularly appropriate in terms of symbolising the traditions of English law.
I have passed this building by many times and thought, casually, that it looked interesting. Thanks for bringing it to our attention!
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In addition to the Courts, you can also walk around the Inns of Court that sit behind the streets next to it - there are some gorgeous manicured gardens around there.
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