Mecatgate, Aberdeen
| Aberdeen Sheriff Court Annex and High Court of Justiciary | |
|
Aberdeenshire | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Mercatgate, Aberdeen | |
| Type: | Court house |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | NJ94430630 |
| Location: | 57°8’51"N, 2°5’37"W |
| City: | Aberdeen |
| History | |
| Address: | Castle Street |
| Built 1801 | |
| By: | James Burn |
| Court house | |
| Neoclassical | |
| Information | |
The Aberdeen Sheriff Court Annex and High Court of Justiciary, also known more succinctly as Mercatgate, is a judicial building in Castle Street, Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire providing the local venue for the High Court of Justiciary, the highest criminal court for Scotland. It operates in conjunction with similar facilities in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
The court is a Category A listed building.[1]
History
The building was commissioned as a banking hall for the Aberdeen Banking Company which had been founded in 1767.[2] It was built to the design of James Burn, in the neoclassical style, built in ashlar stone and completed in 1801.[1][3][4]
The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of five bays facing onto Castle Street. The central bay featured a doorway with a round headed fanlight flanked by colonnettes supporting voussoirs. The other bays on the ground floor, which was Rustication (architecture)|rusticated, contained sash window within round headed recesses, while the bays on the upper floors were fenestrated by tall sash windows on the first floor and by square sash windows on the second floor. The windows on the upper floors were flanked by Doric order pilasters supporting a frieze, which was decorated with triglyphs and discs, and by a modillioned cornice and a balustraded parapet.[1]
After getting into serious financial difficulty, the bank was acquired by the Union Bank of Scotland in 1849,[2] which extended the building by two bays along Marischal Street, to a design by William Smith in 1859.[1] Part of the building was then used as a printer's office in the late 19th century[5] but most of the building remained in use as a branch of the Union Bank of Scotland until 1955, and then of the Bank of Scotland until the early 21st century.[6]
The building was subsequently acquired by the Crown and was extensively remodelled between 2004 and 2005 to a design by Oberlanders Architects / David Murray Associates to accommodate criminal case hearings of the Aberdeen Sheriff Court where solemn proceedings are employed, which is to say trial with judge and jury. The modifications were also intended to accommodate hearings of the High Court of Justiciary.
See also
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Mecatgate, Aberdeen) |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Aberdeen Sheriff Court Annex and High Court of Justiciary (Formerly Bank Of Scotland), 53 Castle Street, Aberdeen (Category A) - Listing detail (Historic Environment Scotland)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Aberdeen Banking Company". Archives Hub. https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/15d4096d-8fed-3d29-97f5-593096ab15be.
- ↑ "Union Bank". Dictionary of Scottish Architects. http://www.scottisharchitects.org.uk/building_full.php?id=231709.
- ↑ Sharples, Joseph; Walker, David W.; Woodworth, Matthew; Fawcett, Richard; Geddes, Jane; McMillan, Andrew A.; Noble, Gordon; O'Brien, Charles (2015). Aberdeenshire South and Aberdeen (Buildings of Scotland Series). Yale University Press. pp. 85, 141. ISBN 978-0300215557. https://books.google.com/books?id=RC83rgEACAAJ.
- ↑ "Aberdeen Sheriff Court Annex and High Court of Justiciary". Scottish Courts and Tribunals. https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/the-courts/court-locations/aberdeen-sheriff-court-annex-and-high-court-of-justiciary.
- ↑ "Mercatgate (Sheriff Court Annex)". Open Door Days. https://www.doorsopendays.org.uk/places/aberdeen-city/mercatgate-sheriff-court-annexe/.