Court House - Berrima, NSW - Courthouses on Waymarking.com

Berrima Courthouse was designed in the Greek Revival style by Australia's second Colonial Architect, Mortimer Lewis. The foundation stone was laid in 1835, problems with a succession of builders delayed completion until April 5, 1838.
The courthouse was only a Court of Assizes presided over by a Supreme Court judge from 1839 to 1846 although it was used intermittently for court sittings until 1884.
The courthouse was also the centre of public administration issuing licenses to publicans and hawkers and where convicts were assigned as farm workers. It was a venue for meetings, dances, concerts and church services, and also a library for the School of Arts, and during WWI German officers who had been made prisoners of war were housed in the building.
In 1927 a public fund helped pay for restoration work and the committee of the School of Arts re-opened the building in 1936.
Other local organisations made use of the building in later years until 1972 when it was again closed before the Department of Public Works restored the building in 1976.
The "Sydney Gazette" describing it on the occasion of its opening, "the interior of the building is fitted up in the first style of elegance, the main portion is," of course, occupied by the court room, which exceeds in extent and elegance anything of the kind in the colony being 50ft long and 30ft wide . . . Cells for the reception of prisoners awaiting trial have also been fitted up in the wings of the building one for the use of males and the other for the use of females. In the rear of the building are robing, withdrawing, and writing rooms for the accommodation of Judges, an office for the Clerk of the Court a large room for the use of witnesses attending the Court and a suite of apartments for the residence of the court-keeper. The whole of these rooms are finished in the very first style of elegance. The doors, window-frame and fittings of the court-room are all composed of the finest polished cedar. Berrima Court House is a fine example of early colonial architecture in the Roman Doric order.

Year Built: 1838 Current Use of Building: Museum Level of Courts: County Architect: Mortimer Lewis Dates this building was used to house judicial proceedings: 1838-1884 Physical Address: Wilshire Street Berrima, NSW, 2577 Australia Hours: Monday - Sunday 10am - 4pm Related Website: [Web Link]

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Date Logged Log User Rating   06/20/2022 Aussiebrian visited it 06/03/2016 Throsbyonchurch visited it 11/27/2015 Tuena visited it

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