Former Lambeth County Court, Prince's, London

Summary

Court building, 1928, designed by John Hatton Markham of the Office of Works, in an eclectic classical style. The building has some internal alterations, and a late-C20 rear extension, which is not of special interest and is excluded from the listing.

Description

MATERIALS: the front part of the building is of red brick, laid in Flemish bond, with Portland stone dressings; the rear part of the original building is London stock brick. Window openings retain their original metal-framed windows, with replacement glass. The flat roofs are asphalted or felted.

PLAN: the original building is a rectangle on plan, on a west/east axis, with the main frontage facing south. The late-C20 extension to the north is excluded from the listing.

EXTERIOR: the symmetrical southern frontage is eleven bays wide, with a nine-bay section containing the central principal entrance, and subsidiary entrances in stepped-back sections to either end. The windows on this elevation have double casements below with transom lights above, each section having marginal glazing; the transom lights of the ground-floor windows include an opening section with a central saltire cross. The nine-bay section has stone coping to the parapet, which is stepped above the entrance. The door-surround, together with the window above it, forms a frontispiece, with the balcony resting on and breaking forwards from the entablature of the doorway. The stone architrave of the doorway incorporates a band of slate, which follow the lugs or extensions to the base of the architrave. The inner door-surround is of fluted marble, into which spears are carved flanking the door, with the date ‘1928’ in a cartouche above; the surround introduces both the architrave form and the fluting which will be features of the interior. The doorway contains original double oak doors with rosette handles; these have short panels above and tall panels below containing elongated raised lozenges, and broken by strengthening elements in the form of plinths. Above the doorway is a pulvinated frieze carved with a ribbon binding and with acanthus to the ends, backing a panel with ‘LAMBETH COUNTY COURT’ carved in Roman letters, with residual gilding, above which is a bundle of fasces symbolizing authority. The fasces are framed by blocks supporting the heavy platform of the balcony, which has rusticated piers, narrowing slightly upwards, to either side of an iron balustrade. On the platform is a moulded plinth which formerly held the royal arms, removed when the building’s court function ceased. The flush stone surround of the window behind is Vitruvian – narrowing upwards – its raised edging with a central step to the top. The other bays in the main section are configured identically. In each bay the windows are slightly set back, with vertical brickwork, projecting and recessed in alternate courses, between the windows. In each bay the ground-floor window opening is without surround, but with a heavy stone cill resting on oversized stone corbels, concave below and with a nail-head block above. Between each pair of corbels is a raised brick panel. A metal grille set into the brickwork above each ground-floor window is screened by foliate decoration. Above these are set the blank stone aprons of the first-floor windows, doubling as exaggerated keystones to the windows below, and capped by deep moulded cills which break into the moulded window surrounds above. The ground-floor cills are linked by a stone storey band. A recess in the brickwork, just above the bases of the ground-floor corbels, creates a gap above the projecting stone plinth, giving the impression that the façade is held up from below by the corbels. Within this recess, there are ventilation holes beneath the windows. Each subsidiary entrance is framed by a stepped stone surround, resting on the storey band, and broken by a panel which in the case of the western doorway reads ‘JUDGES ENTRANCE’; the panel to the eastern doorway is blank. Above, the stepped section is broken by a tall rectangular light, with a cross to the glazing. The first-floor windows to this section are unadorned, with plain stone cills and flat brick arches. Each doorway is approached by renewed stone steps, with later handrails. Set back on the roof to the west, but now visible from the street owing to the loss of the buildings opposite, are two original structures, one housing an access stair and the other a water tank, both rendered.

The western elevation is largely obscured by the earlier adjoining building, with blind walls above. The eastern elevation of the front section of the building is blind. Behind, to the east, the rear parts of the original building, in stock brick, consist of a two-storey set-back section with flat-arched windows, and a lower section behind occupying the north-east corner of the original building, representing the Registrar’s Court, which is lit from the north by four tall windows with round-headed brick arches, containing metal-framed windows with multiple marginal lights and radiating lights to the heads. The north-west corner of the building is filled by a full-height block, the upper storey occupied by the Judge’s Court, again lit from the north by four windows, as in the Registrar’s Court. The ground floor of this part of the building, which formerly contained flat-arched windows, is now obscured by the excluded extension, as is the central part of the original building, which according to the 1928 plans contained a rear entrance with an elongated fanlight to the west, and a variety of flat-arched windows.

INTERIOR: the capitalized room names given here are taken from the 1928 plans; later signage reflects the changing use of the spaces. The building's arrangment reflects its original use: there are central public halls on ground and first floors, linked by a public stair, providing access to the Registrar's Court on the ground floor, and the Judge's Court on the first floor, and separate entrances for the officials associated with the two courts, as well as adjecent rooms ancillary to each. The former Cash Office area, was to the west on the ground floor, with associated offices.

The principal entrance leads into a wide shallow Vestibule, separated from the central Entrance Hall by a timber screen with glazed doors surrounded by glazed panels, all with marginal lighting; the junctions of the screen are marked by circular paterae, and brass handles survive. The original floor in this area was made of a marble composition known as ‘Biancola’, which may survive beneath the present floor covering. Both Vestibule and Entrance Hall have a dado of this composition or terrazzo, with stone skirting, and both have ceilings with deep convex-moulded cornices. From the centre of the Entrance Hall rises an imperial stair; Biancola is used for the stairs and landing. The stair has sturdy circular terrazzo newel piers, with conical stone tops, and with reeded bronze bands punctuated by rosettes; these bands link the handrails of the balustrade, which are bronze below and timber above. The geometric iron balustrades, patterned with ellipses and saltire crosses, also enclose the stairwell on the landing above. A reeded band marks the level of the first floor within the within the elliptical northern portion of the stairwell; a stone band above follows the curve, with terrazzo pilasters rising to support an entablature with a wave-scroll frieze, beneath a lantern with elliptical glazing. On the ground floor, the passageway running behind the stair reflects the form of the stairwell above. Doorways into the spaces surrounding the Entrance Hall have architraves with concave panels to the jambs and lintels and circular paterae to the corner blocks whilst the doors have a glazed upper panel with marginal lights and a recessed panel below; this configuration is found throughout the building. To either side of the Vestibule is a small room, that to the west originally intended for Typists, and that the east for Enquiries. To the north, filling the corners behind the stairwell, the former Clerk’s Retiring Room is now occupied by WCs; the original WC areas for male staff and public to the east have been reconfigured, and the door to the facilities moved further south, removing a lobby. The original WC area for female staff and public has been lost to a passage linking with the northern extension. The windows in this area have all been blocked, also in connection with the construction of the extension. Also accessed from the Entrance Hall, via double doors to the north-east, and a coffered lobby, is the former Registrar’s Court. This retains its original form, with a deep cove surrounding a coffered ceiling emphasised by a geometric framework, its reduced classical form of a piece with the approach seen in features found in the building more generally, such as the internal doorways and Vestibule screen. The fitting out of the courtroom is otherwise more traditional, including the moulded cornice, raised and fielded half-height panelling and draught lobby. The original fitted furniture at the east end, consisting of a screen with clerk's table, with steps to the registrar's platform, and boxes for the plaintiff and defendant, has a slightly Arts and Crafts flavour, not consistent with either the traditional or more modern elements of the room, with faceted panels and knob finials to the posts, and has undergone some reconfiguration. The raised registrar's enclosure behind is later, as are the plainer desks in the main body of the room; recent fixed seating has been added. The hardwood floor specified in the 1928 plans may survive beneath carpet. The 1960s door opening connecting with the extension to the north-east has a surround similar to those of the original doorways. An original doorway to the south-east connects with an area formerly occupied by the Registrar and other staff. This is also accessed via the south-eastern external entrance, which opens to a lobby and an open-well stair with a plain metal balustrade and moulded timber handrail, ramped towards the turns; the area has its own WC. The former Registrar’s Room has an original chimneypiece, with a pulvinated frieze, and a beaded bolection-moulded opening, surrounding an iron grate decorated with a vine motif. This room originally connected with the former Business Room immediately to the west, but there has now been some reconfiguration and subdivision, with the creation of a passageway to the north. The western area of the original building was formerly occupied by the Cash Office, with a subdivision creating a Plaint Office to the south, with a Strong Room to the west, and the Chief Clerk’s Office in the north-west corner; surviving openings with double doors in the western wall of the Entrance Hall gave access to a counter, separating cash office employees from the public. This area is now open, with the window openings to the north having been extended to create door openings accessing the northern extension; the westernmost window is blocked. In the south-west corner of the building is the judge’s stair with lobby, mirroring that in the south-east corner of the building.

On the first floor, the stair opens on to the ‘Crush Hall’, the Biancola floor may survive beneath the current floor covereing. The ceiling is compartmented with deep cyma-moulded cornices, the beams supported on pilasters; in this area the walls are terrazzo, with a dado and stone skirting. At the southern end of the hall a curved partition with pilasters has been inserted, extending to west and east along the line of the beam to create two corner rooms, the form of the partition reflecting that of the stairwell, with its flanking lobbies, opposite. The date of this intervention is not known. Within the Crush Hall, in the south-west corner created by the partition, is a telephone box made to complement the building employing the form of architrave found in the building’s doorcases, the box’s full-length glazing having the same marginal lights. Clearly not in its original position, the box is thought to have been moved; it is not shown on the 1928 plans, but may have been constructed then or shortly afterwards. The first K2 kiosks, on which this design is loosely modelled, were installed in London in 1926. Double doors to the west of the stair lead to a lobby with a glazed roof – its paired metal glazing bars forming a framework with circular motifs to the junctions – which precedes the Judge’s Court, in the north-west corner of the building. This room has a ceiling and panelling as in the Registrar’s Court; the judge’s platform is enclosed by the same panelling, whilst other fiittings – including here a reporters’ box, and jury box, with sloping back-rests and integral writing slopes – have recessed panels. On the wall behind the judge’s bench is a facing of terrazzo, including elements found in the entrance frontispiece and elsewhere in the building – a fluted frame with paterae backs a blank, battered, stepped panel – the whole surrounded by black stone, rising slightly towards the centre, and with a distinctly Art Deco character. The room contains two later desks and later fixed seating. The hardwood floor may survive beneath carpet. Adjacent to the courtroom to the south, and accessed also via the judge’s stair in an arrangement similar to that for the registrar on the ground floor, is the Judge’s Room, which retains panelling with sunk panels, incorporating a chimneypiece with pulvinated frieze, as well as shutters, cupboards, and glazed bookcases. The fireplace contains a reeded register grate. The former Consultation Room to the east of the Judge’s Room has now been combined with the lobby which formerly connected the two rooms, and reconfigured. The rooms to the north of the stair, formerly the Jury Room and Counsel room, have been altered by the blocking of the northern windows by the northern extension. In the south-east corner of the building, the entrance to the former Bailiff’s Room has been moved further south; this room has been stripped internally, initally for use as a family court, with a false ceiling and partitions inserted. The small former store adjacent to the north of the stair does not retain internal features of note.

Concrete steps, leading from the main and south-west stairs, provide access to the basement, which occupies the western and central parts of the site. The walls are of painted brick, and the floors of concrete. The Heating Chamber to the north retains some original pipework. Large spaces were provided for the storage of files, and there was a coke store beneath the central entrance, served by chutes from coal plates in the paving in front of the building.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES

The area in front of the building to the south is paved with York stone; in front of the doorways, lozenge-shaped stones are incorporated into the paving. The Cleaver Street boundary is marked by a dwarf stone wall in which are set panels of railings with narrow spear heads, between posts with urn finials. Geometric consoles employing Greek keys flank the central gate piers which originally supported lamps, the upper part of the iron framework containing the monogram ‘GVR’ surmounted by a crown. The original corresponding gates survive, with plainer gates to the subsidiary entrances.

History

The County Courts Act of 1846 provided a unified national system of civil courts for the recovery of small debts at local courthouses or other buildings, replacing the old courts of request. Under later legislation the county courts were entrusted with other forms of legal arbitration, including personal injury, bankruptcy, housing disputes and family arbitration. Purpose-built county courts were built by the Surveyor of County Courts, a post created in 1846, though the majority of county court hearings were held in other buildings, frequently town halls. Lambeth County Court opened on 15 March 1847; from at least 1875 the court sat in a building in Camberwell New Road, named Lambeth County Court, thought to have been purpose-built; that building appears to have remained in use until it was replaced by the one in Cleaver Street. The County Courts (Buildings) Act of 1870 transferred all county court property and associated responsibilities from the Treasurer of County Courts to the Commissioners of her Majesty’s Works, with county courts built after that date being designed by HM Office of Works. In the late 1920s, a programme began for the replacement and improvement of existing county court buildings, particularly those in London; the one in Lambeth was the first to be constructed.

The new Lambeth County Court was built on a site formerly occupied by C19 terraced cottages on the north side of Cleaver Street, a narrow street providing access between Kennington Lane to the west, and Cleaver Square to the east. Designs were drawn up in 1927-1928 by the Office of Works, with John Hatton Markham as architect. The building was constructed in 1928, the builder being F Hutton & Son of Colchester. The building contained two courtrooms: a Judge’s Court for more complex and important cases, and a Registrar’s Court.

In the early 1960s the building was extended to the rear by the addition of a SECO hut, slightly detached from the north elevation of the building, but linked via an existing central door, and a new door opening created in the Registrar’s Court. This addition was replaced in the 1980s or 1990s by a larger brick extension, occupying the rear yard. At the same time or subsequently, the original Cash Desk area on the ground floor of the building was converted to an open-plan space, connected with the extension via former window openings converted to doorways. The building has seen a number of other internal alterations during the course of its history, including the conversion of the former Baillif's Room to a family court. The building ceased to serve as a courthouse in 2017, and is currently (2021) in temporary use as artists’ studios.

John Hatton Markham (1882-1961) was articled to GE Clare and Walter Gray Ross of Chelmsford from 1899 to 1902. Thereafter he was assistant to William Isaac Chambers and then with Tubbs & Messer of Woking. He worked for Eugene Charles Beaumont from 1903 and Ralph Seldon Wornum from 1904. In 1905 he was admitted ARIBA. Markham joined the Office of Works in 1911 as a temporary draughtsman, becoming an Assistant Architect in the same year, progressing in 1920 to the title of Architect, in which role he remained. In 1927, he was recorded as being one of 15 Architects within the Office of Works, there being four Senior Architects below the Chief Architect, Sir Richard Allinson. Listed buildings for the Office of Works, known to have been Markham's responsibility, include the Sedding Telephone Exchange (1924), St Mark’s Garrison Church in Sandgate, Kent (1939-1941), and the Kensington Gardens Bandstand (1931), as well as gate piers constructed in 1931 to the Rampton Hospital in Nottinghamshire. Markham also designed the 1929-1931 Whale Hall at the Natural History Museum (the Museum is listed at Grade I) and, with Allinson, the former Geological Museum (1929-1933, now included in the Natural History Museum and covered by the listing) and made alterations to John (later Sir John) Burnet's North Wing and North Library at the British Museum in the 1930s. His county courts included, besides Lambeth, Ilford (1930), Clerkenwell (1931), and Epsom (1938, demolished). Markham also served on the building committee for the League of Nations building in Geneva. Retiring in 1942, he was then re-engaged as Assistant Director of Post-War Building.

Reasons for Listing

The former Lambeth County Court of 1928, designed by John Hatton Markham of the Office of Works, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as an interwar public building of unusually high quality, designed by JH Markham, an accomplished and versatile Office of Works architect with a number of listed buildings to his name;
* for its impressive symmetrical frontage, within the classical tradition, but making inventive use of both architectural features and materials, in its subtly varied brickwork, bold stonework, blocky idiosyncratic frontispiece with slate and marble enrichment, and distinctive metal-framed windows, the whole surviving intact;
* for the survival of significant internal spaces, including two courts with original fittings, illustrative of county court procedure, a panelled Judge’s Room, and a fine central stair making skilful and stylish use of stone, ‘Biancola’ and terrazzo and bronze;
* apart from the more traditional court fittings, the interior has consistent architectural detailing, with pared-down classical joinery defining architraves, coffered ceilings, vestibule screen and an original public telephone box;
* the internal circulation, with separate entrances and stairs accommodating judge, registrar, other staff, and public, remains legible.

Historic interest:

* Lambeth County Court was the first new county court built in a rebuilding programme begun in the late 1920s, in recognition of the inadequacy of many existing buildings, particularly in London, for facilitating the important work done by the courts; the lavishness of this example, by comparison with those built later, probably reflects the fact that it was built before the crash of 1929.

Group value:

* the County Court forms part of a group of listed public buildings: the nearby mid-C19 Lambeth Vestry Hall, briefly serving as Lambeth Town Hall in the early C20; Imperial Court, built as a school for the Licenced Victualler’s Company in 1835-1836, both classical buildings, and Sidney Smith’s 1889 Durning Library, as well as the 1932-1933 Church of St Anselm with its vicarage of 1913, both by Adshead and Ramsey. The extensive listed early-C20 neo-Georgian housing for the Duchy of Cornwall, mainly by Adshead and Ramsey, in the immediate vicinity, provides context for the building, as does C18 and early-C19 housing in Cleaver Square and elsewhere.

External Links

Historic England Listing

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