Dunedin Law Courts Building

Law Courts - Dunedin - New Zealand
The Dunedin Law Courts building was one of the first major works to be designed by Government architect John Campbell, and was built in 1901–02[1] at a cost of £20,000 and opened in April 1902.[2] The building is still used as the city's law courts, and contains four court rooms, including the ornate High Court, as well as housing the offices and library of the Law Society.[3] The Law Courts are located alongside the former Dunedin Central Police Station, another Campbell building, though in a completely different style. While the 1890s police station (which was actually the city's gaol for most of its existence) was deliberately modelled in a Queen Anne style uncommon in New Zealand but designed to imitate London's New Scotland Yard (now the Norman Shaw Buildings), the Law Courts are in decorative but stern Victorian Gothic style similar to the buildings of Dunedin's University of Otago Registry Building.[4] As is common with many of Dunedin's more substantial historic structures (including the railway station opposite) the Law Courts are constructed of dark Port Chalmers breccia ornamented with lighter Oamaru stone, a local compacted limestone mined to the north of Dunedin, and is topped with a roof of slate and granite. The main entrance to the court sits at the foot of a short tower which is decorated with an un-blindfolded statue of Justice in Italian white marble.[4

Law Courts - Dunedin
Law Courts - Dunedin

Dunedin Law Courts Building. An earlier law courts building existed to the east of the present site which was originally occupied by the Dunedin gaol. Later the courts moved to the Provincial Council building in the Exchange. Probably it was the availability of this latter building which delayed the erecting of the purpose-built home for the courts to as late as 1900. This is a late major gothic building for Dunedin. Only the University buildings around the archway are later in this category of building. It is reasonably pure in its styling, lacking the hybridisation with the classical apparent in some other buildings of this period. The Law Courts form part of the impressive Castle Street precinct which includes the Florentine Railway Station across the road, the Central Police Station and the Otago Early Settlers building. The walls are built of Port Chalmers breccia with Oamaru stone window framing, parapets and pinnacles. (It is somewhat unusual for a Dunedin building to be completed in breccia rather than Leith Valley andesite with breccia foundations.) The roof is slate. The marble figure of Justice over the Stuart Street door in Italian and is not blindfolded. The High Court is lavishly gothic, with Rimu emblems and mouldings and with fine cast iron work fronting the jury and press seats and the witness stand. The major doors have gothic arches and the main staircase has a handsome cast iron balustrade. The Law Library still retains its fine built-in bookcases and heavy oak furniture.

Dunedin Law Courts Building

Follow Us