County Sessions House

Liverpool, County Sessions House

Of 1882-4 by F. & G. Holme. Exuberantly late Victorian, its style derived from RenaissanceGlossary Term Venice rather than ancient Greece and Rome. PorticoGlossary Term with coupled columns. The front is lavishly decoratedGlossary Term but the sides and rear are bare brick (the NE side was originally hidden by buildings). Complex internal layout, largely preserved, with separate circulation for prisoners, public, solicitors and witnesses, and barristers and magistrates. Staircase hall, rich with marble, mosaic and sgraffitoGlossary Term decoration, under little saucer-domes. Magistrates' room with panellingGlossary Term and C17-style plaster ceiling. Two courtrooms, the larger with dadoGlossary Term of Burmantofts' tiles. Cells in basementGlossary Term.