The Middlesex County Court House is a historic building and a

National Historic Site of Canada National Historic Sites of Canada (french: Lieux historiques nationaux du Canada) are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment on the advice of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC), as being ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada. The courthouse building is an "early example of the Gothic Revival style, pre-dating the earliest important Gothic Revival public building in England".

Description

The building at 399 Ridout Street North, commonly known as Middlesex County Court House, is situated south of Dundas Street, and north of King Street in the County of Middlesex in the City of London. The three-story parged brick building has castle-like features and Gothic details. The courthouse displays a classical compositional form with a central pavilion and two side wings in the form of prominent octagonal towers at each corner. The courthouse features a stone foundation housing the cell blocks, squared mortar-covered brick walls to give a stone-like appearance, octagonal towers, a polygonal bay, tall lancet windows, secondary square windows and distinctive crenelations.

History

The building was designed in the

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

style by Toronto architect

John Ewart Jon Ewart (06th May 1996) is a British television and film actor. Ewart attended the prestigious National Youth Theatre, Identity School of Acting and has appeared in many successful Television shows. Biography Career Ewart, who was born in M ...

, and constructed from 1827 to 1829. The building, which included the court, jail and police office administrative offices, was constructed from locally quarried stone. In 1955, it was designated a National Historic Site because The exterior of the building and the scenic qualities of the landscape, are protected by an Ontario Heritage Trust conservation easement. The building is also designated under Part 4 of the ''

Ontario Heritage Act The ''Ontario Heritage Act'', (the ''Act'') first enacted on March 5, 1975, allows municipalities and the provincial government to designate individual properties and districts in the Province of Ontario, Canada, as being of cultural heritage ...

''.

References

{{NHSC Buildings and structures in London, Ontario National Historic Sites in Ontario Designated heritage properties in Ontario Courthouses in Canada