The Queen Elizabeth II Law Courts is a Crown Court venue, which deals with criminal cases, in Dalton Street,

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

, England.

History

Until the mid-1980s, all Crown Court cases were heard in the

Victoria Law Courts The Victoria Law Courts on Corporation Street, Birmingham, England is a Grade I listed red brick and terracotta building that now houses Birmingham Magistrates' Court. History Designed by Aston Webb & Ingress Bell of London after an open com ...

in Corporation Street. However, as the number of court cases in Birmingham grew, it became necessary to commission a more modern courthouse for criminal matters. The site selected by the

Lord Chancellor's Department The Lord Chancellor's Department was a United Kingdom government department answerable to the Lord Chancellor with jurisdiction over England and Wales. Created in 1885 as the Lord Chancellor's Office with a small staff to assist the Lord Chancel ...

was a short remaining section of John Watt Street which had been severed by the construction of the James Watt Queensway. The new building was designed by

Property Services Agency The Property Services Agency (PSA) was an agency of the United Kingdom government, in existence from 1972 to 1993. Its role was to “provide, manage, maintain, and furnish the property used by the government, including defence establishments, offi ...

, built in red brick with

terracotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...

dressings at a cost of £8.9 million, and was completed in 1987. The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage facing onto Dalton Street. The central section, which was projected forward, featured a full-height glass

atrium Atrium may refer to: Anatomy * Atrium (heart), an anatomical structure of the heart * Atrium, the genital structure next to the genital aperture in the reproductive system of gastropods * Atrium of the ventricular system of the brain * Pulmona ...

to the right of centre. A carved terracotta Royal coat of arms was installed on the first floor to the right of the atrium. Short canted sections connected the central section to the wings. The whole structure was fenestrated by small square windows with architraves. Internally, the building was laid out to accommodate twelve courtrooms. A sculpture by Vincent Woropay carved in black Indian

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

and depicting a series of busts of the engineer, James Watt, in the style of Egyptian

obelisk An obelisk (; from grc, ὀβελίσκος ; diminutive of ''obelos'', " spit, nail, pointed pillar") is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape or pyramidion at the top. Originally constructed by An ...

s and Native American

totem pole Totem poles ( hai, gyáaʼaang) are monumental carvings found in western Canada and the northwestern United States. They are a type of Northwest Coast art, consisting of poles, posts or pillars, carved with symbols or figures. They are usually ...

s and known as the "Wattilisk" was unveiled outside the building shortly after it opened. Notable cases have included the trial and conviction of three men, in June 2014, in connection with the 2013 English football match-fixing scandal, the trial and conviction, in October 2014, of Barry Williams for shooting eight people in the towns of

West Bromwich West Bromwich ( ) is a market town in the borough of Sandwell, West Midlands, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is north-west of Birmingham. West Bromwich is part of the area known as the Black Country, in terms of geography, c ...

and Nuneaton, and the trial and conviction, in August 2019, of

Louise Porton Louise Porton (born 1996) is a British double murderer who came to public attention in 2019 when she was convicted of murdering her two children as they "got in the way" of her sex life. Between 2 January and 1 February 2018, she repeatedly atta ...

for murdering her two children.

References

{{reflist Buildings and structures in Birmingham, West Midlands Crown Court buildings Government buildings completed in 1987 Court buildings in England