Description

BLACKBURN
NORTHGATE
SD6828SW
796- /4/10023 (west side)
Central Police
Station and Court
House
GV II
Police Station and Court House. 1912, by Briggs, Wolstenholme and Thornley. Sandstone
ashlar, slate roofs. Large rectangular plan on corner site at junction with Duke Street, with
Police Station to rear and beneath Court House, and a screen wall at the south end linked
to King George's Hall. Classical style. Central block 3 storeys, side range 2 storeys with attics,
all over rustic basement storey, 1:3:1:5:1:3:1 bays, symmetrical except for fenestration of side
wings and additional screen wall to left; with channelled rustication to basement storey. In
the 7-bay centre block the outer bays containing the main entrances break forward slightly
and have chanelled rustication to full height, while the 5-bay centre has a giant colonnade
of engaged Ionic columns, an entablature with plain frieze and prominent mutuled cornice
carried round the whole, with a banded parapet to the centre and emblematic seated figures
over the outer bays. Each outer bay has a giant round-headed archway with splayed reveal
and run-out voussoirs containing a distyle Tuscan porch with moulded cornice; a tall
window with metal balcony and pedimented architrave, and a bulls-eye window with
enriched surround including a scrolled keyblock. The 5 centre bays have square windows
in the rustic, corniced windows to the two main floors and square windows above these (all
apparently with altered glazing). The lower side ranges have banded pilasters to the corner
bays, each has a round-headed doorway, window architraves with aprons and key-blocks
(the fenestration of the range to the left less regular than that to the right), a niche at 1st floor
of the corner bay, dentilled cornice carried round, and a panelled parapet (higher over the
corners). Full-height screen wall to the left in similar style, with round-headed archway.
Large 2-storey range to rear, with it-window frontage to Duke Street in similar but
compatible style. INTERIOR: axial public corridor with marble-faced pilasters,
egg-and-dart cornices, barrel-vaulted ceiling with 4 circular skylights; vestibule to Court
No. 1 and Court No. 2 off rear of centre of this; both these courts retaining all original
panelled oak furnishings and fittings including balcony (Court No. 1 also has curved former
Grand Jury balcony in side wall), coved sky-lighted ceilings, stained glass windows
(including one lettered Mercy facing Bench and another lettered Justice facing prisoners
dock); both prisoners' docks have staircases down to police station beneath, and that in Court
No. 2 has remains of original speaking tube for policeman in attendance. Courts 3 and 4 on
upper floors to rear.

Listing NGR: SD6804028272

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26517492

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014
• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2