LB 27 LYNCH ARCHITECTS westminster coroner's court

LB 27 LYNCH ARCHITECTS westminster coroner’s court, is the
twenty-seventh title from LONG BOOKS COLLECTION.

Lynch have treated this building with great respect. Its door leads to a narrow corridor continuing straight ahead to the mortuary; to the left is a stair and above is the courtroom itself, a fine Victorian room now in perfect condition and complete with its fireplace and fittings. The rest of the building consisted of unremarkable offices, with at one point temporary accommodation on the top floor for families displaced while their homes in the borough were fumigated. The architects have opened up the western side of the ground floor with a little play of arched openings; beyond are two new spaces. The first is the court’s now open-plan office area, but the second is located on the ground floor of the new extension and provides a friendly and warm space for families and visitors who in the nature of things may be upset by the court’s proceedings. The external form of this extension is a monumental north elevation with a barrel-vaulted roof, a bit like a very tall gravestone. This responds magnificently to two public buildings nearby: one is the 1935 Westminster Baptist church which also combines the Jacobean with the late Stuart but, interestingly, in a different way to the courthouse; the other is a red-brick Catholic church, gothic but about the same age. For many people who know the area well, this corner is also memorable for a rear view of Edwin Lutyens’ chequerboard-faced flats in Page Street and for the surviving ancient urinal, patronised by taxi drivers, which for a long time shared its gas lighting with the nearby lamp post. (…)

TIMOTHY BRITTAIN-CATLIN