The Royal Courts of Justice in Chichester Street,

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

is the home of the Court of Judicature of Northern Ireland established under the Judicature (Northern Ireland) Act 1978. This comprises the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal, High Court of Northern Ireland and the Crown Court in Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service,
Heritage Tour - Royal Courts of Justice
' (Belfast, 6 October 2010) (accessed: 6 June 2011) It is a Grade A

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

History

Until 1920, the most senior courts in Ireland were in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

but under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, the British Government was required to establish a separate judicial system for

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. The building, which was designed by Sir Richard Allison and James Grey West in the

Neoclassical style Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassici ...

, was built between 1928 and 1933. The building was officially opened by the

Governor of Northern Ireland The governor of Northern Ireland was the principal officer and representative in Northern Ireland of the British monarch. The office was established on 9 December 1922 and abolished on 18 July 1973. Overview The office of Governor of Northern I ...

, the Duke of Abercorn, in 1933. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with thirteen bays facing onto Chichester Street with the end bays slightly projected forward; the central section of three bays featured a deeply recessed portico flanked by four

Corinthian order The Corinthian order (, ''Korinthiakós rythmós''; ) is the last developed and most ornate of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Ancient Roman architecture, Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric or ...

columns supporting an

entablature An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...

; the centre window on the first floor was decorated with a carving depicting the Royal coat of arms. The building was targeted during

the Troubles The Troubles () were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed t ...

and was surrounded with large security screens. It suffered from bomb damage in 1989 and again in January 1997 when the

Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various Resistance movement, resistance organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dominantly Catholic and dedicated to anti-imperiali ...

attacked the building resulting in one

Royal Ulster Constabulary The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 as a successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) Richard Doherty, ''The Thin Green Line – The History of the ...

officer being injured. The Laganside Courts Complex, located to the north of the main building on the site of a former livestock market, was procured under a

private finance initiative The private finance initiative (PFI) was a United Kingdom government procurement policy aimed at creating "public–private partnerships" (PPPs) where private firms are contracted to complete and manage public projects. Initially launched in 1992 ...

contract in 1999. The building, which was designed by Hurd Rolland and built by a joint venture of Turkington Construction and Karl Group at a cost of £50 million, was completed in 2002. The complex, which created six new courtrooms for the Crown Court, six new magistrates courts and four new county courts, replaced the Newtownabbey Courthouse, the Belfast magistrates' court and the Crumlin Road Courthouse.

References

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Buildings and structures in Belfast Courthouses in Northern Ireland Grade A listed buildings 20th-century architecture in the United Kingdom Government buildings completed in 1833 {{NorthernIreland-stub

History

See also

References

External links