Middlesex Guildhall - Parliament Square, London, UK
N 51° 30.027 W 000° 07.672
30U E 699341 N 5709390
This magnificent building was constructed as the Middlesex Guildhall. It has since been put to other use and it now houses the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.
Waymark Code: WMQ6CK
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 12/29/2015
Views: 4
The building is Grade II* listed and its entry, at the Historic England website (visit link), reads:
Middlesex Guildhall G.V. II* County Guildhall. 1906-13 by J G S Gibson with Skipwith and Gordon, sculpture by H C Fehr. Portland stone (load bearing with internal steel frame), slate roofs. Very accomplished, boldly massed, Free Style late Gothic with Flemish- Burgundian references and more immediately influenced by Henry Wilson and Giles Scott in the concentration of carved ornament balanced by bare wall plane. Free standing block with symmetrical main elevations and imposing tower of elongated section. 3 storeys, basement and dormered attic storey with steep hipped roof behind. 9 bays wide. Entrance in centrepiece with segmental arched deep set portal and great segmental arched window above framed by canted bay-turrets. Behind rises the massive tower with large segmental arched windows to sides with flamboyant ornament, piercedwork parapet and corner turrets. Stone mullioned-transomed windows to flanking ranges and returns. Drip string across ground floor stepped over window heads. Sharply profiled cornice. The attic storey has blind panel tracery linking enriched flamboyant gabled dormers. The south return has main central portion advanced with 3 semicircular arched ground floor windows and stone piercedwork balcony to 1st floor. Fine sculptured details with deep, figured, relief frieze above and to the sides of the entrance extending over canted bay-towers; statues under canopies, finials etc. Lofty stone chimney stacks with attached"torse"shafts. Good Free Gothic area railings. In the basement the C17 gateway to Tothill Fields Prison.
The Supreme Court's website has an article about the external stonework of the Guildhall:
The exterior of the building is decorated with corner turrets, a piecework parapet, and many ornamental statues by sculptor Henry Fehr.
Stone sculptured details with deep figures encircle the building. The most impressive of these is the relief frieze above and to the sides of the entrance, extending over canted bay towers.
Scenes on the frieze include King John handing the Magna Carta to the barons at Runnymede, the granting of the charter of Westminster Abbey, and the Duke of Northumberland offering the crown of England to Lady Jane Grey.
The main portico is dominated by intricately carved muse-like figures which Rupert Barnes of the Historic Counties Trust identifies as Britannia supported by the spirits of architecture, literature, government, sculpture, music, truth, law, seafaring, wisdom and education.
On the upper part of the tower, there is a richly carved band of old English heraldic yales, lions, unicorns, with Tudor roses, thistles, shields and arms. The gargoyle figures are four angels of the winds and the four angels of protection. In a niche in the parapet is a figure representing government.
At the back of the building, the old stone gateway of Tothill Fields Bridewell prison is preserved. This was moved in 1836 from the site now occupied by the Roman Catholic Westminster Cathedral, and is all that remains of this ancient house of correction.
The Victorian Web website (visit link) also contains information with respect to the external decoration. The references to images are those in the web page that should be viewed to appreciate all the work:
Frieze by Henry Charles Fehr (1867-1940). Middlesex Guildhall, Parliament Square, London. Architect: J. S. Gibson and Partners. Portland Stone. 1906-1913. The "new" Guildhall building of this date features "[f]ine sculptured details with deep, figured, relief frieze above and to the sides of the entrance extending over canted bay-towers" ("Middlesex Guildhall"). Above the arch over the main entry, Henry III, standing on the left, grants a charter to the Abbey of Westminster, with church and abbey hierarchy and acolytes in attendance. The Guildhall was originally built on the site of Westminster Abbey's Sanctuary Tower and Belfry.