Northampton Crown Court | |
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Location | Lady's Lane, Northampton |
Coordinates | 52°14′27″N 0°53′37″W / 52.2408°N 0.8936°W |
Built | 1991 |
Architectural style(s) | Modern style |
Northampton Crown Court is a Crown Court venue which deals with criminal cases at Lady's Lane in Northampton, England.
Until the late 1980s, criminal court hearings in Northampton were held in the Sessions House.[1][2] However, as the number of court cases in Northampton grew, it became necessary to commission a more substantial courthouse for criminal matters. The site selected by the Lord Chancellor's Department had accommodated a series of rows of terraced housing (Kerr Street and Park Street) before the area was cleared.[3]
The building was designed by Kit Allsopp architects,[4] built in buff stone at a cost of £11.5 million,[5] and was completed in 1987.[6] The design involved two gabled sections connected by a recessed glass atrium facing onto Lady's Lane. The right hand gabled section was fenestrated by a small square window on the ground floor and featured a prominent Royal coat of arms mounted on the brickwork at first floor level. Internally, the building was equipped with four courtrooms.[7] The design won the Summer Exhibition Award from the Royal Academy of Arts in 1986.[6] As a second-tier court, the complex was originally commissioned to deal solely with criminal cases,[8] but was later remodelled to include provision for the County Court, which deals with civil cases, and the Family Court as well.[9]
Notable cases heard at the courthouse include: