Liverpool Magistrates’ Courts
Visited with @little_ boy_explores and @huyt.urb and separately with @UrbandonedTeam and @DustySensorPhotography
Liverpool Magistrates' Courts was designed by John Grey Weightman built between 1857 and 1859. The grade II listed building had 7 court rooms inside and was used to judge a wide variety of crimes. In 2007, it was announced that the Dale Street building will close to be replaced by a new purpose-built set of courts, but it took until 2015 for the building to finally shut after 150 years of operation. Finally in 2015 the magistrates moved into the crown court building in derby square and to be known as a single crime centre. As of 2018 the plan was to convert the building into a new hotel.
This place was another pin I had down for a while and never bothered with until a day in Hudds ended up with us meeting Alex in Liverpool for the rest of the evening. After not being out properly for a while, I fancied checking some stuff I hadn’t got round too prior, in hopes of seeing something new. After a couple recces elsewhere, we arrived outside the court building. It was @urbanchemist ‘s fire station report that piqued my interest when I first pinned it alongside the numerous LiverpoolEcho articles showing what it was like just after closure, so we had some hope for it. To confirm, the map found on chemist’s report is correct, in that the purple and green area makes up the entirety of the courts building. A planned route was already in my head, so it didn’t take us long to begin to search for our entry. We got here just in time to see some of the original court rooms and architecture. Plenty of rooms were stripped and work had evidently begun years ago. It seemed as if it was halted for the time being but out of the 7 courtrooms inside, only two remained intact (relatively). The rest of the building still had a lot to offer and made for a nice set of evening moochs.
Now inside.
To begin with, the main court rooms still intact. Court No.1 and No.4. No.4 being completely left alone.
No.1.
There were plenty intricate an original details if you looked close enough.
Outside the main court, this spacious arched hallway connected you to some of the stripped smaller courts and probation offices.
This hallway led to court No.4 and the Magistrates and Solicitors lavatories.
Court No.4. Plenty of old painted signage could be found.
Onto the rather nice lavs just nextdoor.
Solicitor toilets.
The rest of the courtrooms on this level, as I’ve said, were bare. Here’s a roundup of what remained.
Court No.3.
The signage had been removed for the remaining rooms.
Before we headed down to see the lower floors, we explored the various offices and grand spaces out of the way from the main court area. Most of the rooms were bare and lacked any architectural significance but some of the boardrooms, library spaces and the staircases were interesting.
To be continued...
Visited with @little_ boy_explores and @huyt.urb and separately with @UrbandonedTeam and @DustySensorPhotography
Liverpool Magistrates' Courts was designed by John Grey Weightman built between 1857 and 1859. The grade II listed building had 7 court rooms inside and was used to judge a wide variety of crimes. In 2007, it was announced that the Dale Street building will close to be replaced by a new purpose-built set of courts, but it took until 2015 for the building to finally shut after 150 years of operation. Finally in 2015 the magistrates moved into the crown court building in derby square and to be known as a single crime centre. As of 2018 the plan was to convert the building into a new hotel.
This place was another pin I had down for a while and never bothered with until a day in Hudds ended up with us meeting Alex in Liverpool for the rest of the evening. After not being out properly for a while, I fancied checking some stuff I hadn’t got round too prior, in hopes of seeing something new. After a couple recces elsewhere, we arrived outside the court building. It was @urbanchemist ‘s fire station report that piqued my interest when I first pinned it alongside the numerous LiverpoolEcho articles showing what it was like just after closure, so we had some hope for it. To confirm, the map found on chemist’s report is correct, in that the purple and green area makes up the entirety of the courts building. A planned route was already in my head, so it didn’t take us long to begin to search for our entry. We got here just in time to see some of the original court rooms and architecture. Plenty of rooms were stripped and work had evidently begun years ago. It seemed as if it was halted for the time being but out of the 7 courtrooms inside, only two remained intact (relatively). The rest of the building still had a lot to offer and made for a nice set of evening moochs.
Now inside.
To begin with, the main court rooms still intact. Court No.1 and No.4. No.4 being completely left alone.
No.1.
There were plenty intricate an original details if you looked close enough.
Outside the main court, this spacious arched hallway connected you to some of the stripped smaller courts and probation offices.
This hallway led to court No.4 and the Magistrates and Solicitors lavatories.
Court No.4. Plenty of old painted signage could be found.
Onto the rather nice lavs just nextdoor.
Solicitor toilets.
The rest of the courtrooms on this level, as I’ve said, were bare. Here’s a roundup of what remained.
Court No.3.
The signage had been removed for the remaining rooms.
Before we headed down to see the lower floors, we explored the various offices and grand spaces out of the way from the main court area. Most of the rooms were bare and lacked any architectural significance but some of the boardrooms, library spaces and the staircases were interesting.
To be continued...
