Manchester Assize Courts (Architectural Competition)

No. 44 “Artis est celare artem,” Mr Worthington, Manchester. We should have taken this set of drawings to be a design for a college library, and as such they would have enlisted our warmest approbation. It is almost entirely the result of German and French study. A broad terrace leads to the entrance. At either end of the facade is a wing with a roofed dormer window, like the famed one at Nuremburg, in the centre supported by corbels and a two-light window on either side. A cornice and tracery-filled balustrade surmount the walls. Beyond rise high pitched roofs with gables over the wings. The terrace entrance leads by a wide corridor to the large hall or promenade, from which the courts are conveniently gained. The unequal level of Southhall Street is overcome by a flight of steps at right angles with street, leading to the witnesses' entrance. The general public are admitted through a separate entrance at the top of Southhall Street. The whole of the drawings are most elaborately got up. The neatness of the drawings surpasses anything in the rooms. Mr Worthington contributes likewise a Classic elevation; a long range of Corinthian columns with pediments over the wings, neatly drawn, but without the slightest originality. [Building News Page 421-422]