Standing Building Recording

Date 21 October 2018

Event ID 1048570

Category Recording

Type Standing Building Recording

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1048570

NT 25802 73574 A historic building survey was undertaken, 20 – 21 October 2018, of the early 19th-century former Police Chambers building at 1a Parliament Square in advance of its renovation.

The building was constructed, 1845 – 49, to a design by the architect William Nixon as a Police Chambers, including a police court and court cells. Prior to this, there were tenement buildings on the site in the later medieval period. However, by at least the mid-late 18th century the Royal Bank stood on the site, together with another building facing the High Street. These were removed in the 1840s to make way for the Police Chambers building and the formalisation of Parliament Square.

This development forms the southern portion of the Police Chambers (the northern portion was developed in 2002) and is a six-storey building with a similar floor plan throughout, with the exception of the basement level and the second floor (mezzanine) level, which mostly contained a number of prisoner holding cells. The building has undergone a certain amount of refurbishment over the years, with two new modern open well stairs to the NE and SW corner respectively. The public court to the first floor also remained in situ with tall sash windows, timber panelling, fixtures and fittings and a moulded cornice and ceiling.

Archive: NRHE (intended)

Funder: Axiom

Diana Sproat – AOC Archaeology Group

(Source: DES Vol 19)

OASIS ID: aocarcha1-329797