Dundalk Courthouse is a judicial facility in
Dundalk
Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is h ...
,
County Louth, Ireland.
History
The courthouse, which was designed by Edward Parke and
John Bowden in the
neoclassical style
Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The prevailing sty ...
and built in
ashlar stone, was completed in 1819.
The design involved a symmetrical main frontage facing Crowe Street; there was a short flight of steps leading up to a large
hexastyle
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...
portico with fluted
Doric order
The Doric order was one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of c ...
columns supporting a
triglyph
Triglyph is an architectural term for the vertically channeled tablets of the Doric frieze in classical architecture, so called because of the angular channels in them. The rectangular recessed spaces between the triglyphs on a Doric frieze are ...
ed
entablature and a
pediment
Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape.
Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds.
A pedim ...
.
[ The design was modelled on the ]Temple of Hephaestus
The Temple of Hephaestus or ''Hephaisteion'' (also "Hephesteum" or "Hephaesteum"; grc, Ἡφαιστεῖον, ell, Ναός Ηφαίστου, and formerly called in error the Theseion or "Theseum"; grc, Θησεῖον, ell, Θησείο), ...
in Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
.
The building was originally used as a facility for dispensing justice but, following the implementation of the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898
The Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 (61 & 62 Vict. c. 37) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland that established a system of local government in Ireland similar to that already created for England, ...
, which established county councils in every county, it also became the meeting place for Louth County Council
Louth County Council ( ga, Comhairle Contae Lú) is the authority responsible for local government in County Louth, Ireland. As a county council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. The council is responsible for housing and c ...
. Meanwhile a home for the county officials was established at County Buildings in Crowe Street. Both the county council and its officials moved to County Hall in 2000. By then the courthouse had fallen into a state of disrepair and, after an extensive programme of refurbishment works, it was officially re-opened by Michael McDowell, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Reform, in March 2003.[
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dundalk Courthouse
Buildings and structures in County Louth
Courthouses in the Republic of Ireland
Greek Revival buildings
Greek Revival church buildings
Greek Revival architecture in Ireland
1819 establishments in Ireland
Government buildings completed in 1819