Listed Building

The only legal part of the listing under the Planning (Listing Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 is the address/name of site. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing – see 'About Listed Buildings' below for more information. The further details below the 'Address/Name of Site' are provided for information purposes only.

Address/Name of Site

Oban Sheriff Court and Justice Of The Peace Court, Albany Street, ObanLB38801

Status: Designated

Documents

There are no additional online documents for this record.

Summary

Category
B
Date Added
12/10/1995
Last Date Amended
09/09/2015
Local Authority
Argyll And Bute
Planning Authority
Argyll And Bute
Burgh
Oban
NGR
NM 85818 29759
Coordinates
185818, 729759

Description

David MacKintosh of Oban, 1886-1889. 2-storey, 5x2 bay, rectangular-plan, Italianate court house on prominent corner site with large round-arched windows at first floor and shorter 4-bay annex to rear (southeast) containing principal stair and offices. Sandstone ashlar to main block, channelled at ground. Base course, cill courses. Splayed, moulded window surrounds to round-arched first floor windows. Dentil cornice. Parapet above with pyramidal capped dies. 2-leaf, 6-panelled timber entrance doors set in pilastered door-piece with decorative consoles supporting cornice surmounted by urns and balustrade.

Predominantly squared and snecked granite with sandstone dressings to annex (rubble to south east gable elevation). Ground floor cill course continues from principal block to northeast. 3 windows to ground floor and 4 windows at first floor. Plain cornice at eaves surmounted by blocking course. Central bipartite stair window to centre of east gable elevation. Small window in gablehead.

8-pane glazing in round-arched timber sash and case windows. Predominantly 4-pane glazng in timber sash and case windows elsewhere. Square leaded coloured glass to bipartite stair window at southeast gable. Grey-slated, piended roof to front block, concealed by parapet. Intersecting grey slated, pitched roof to annex with skew copes at gable. Box gutters behind blocking courses. Cast iron downpipes with plain hoppers. Annex stacks at gable and ridge with square, panelled and modillioned cans

The interior, seen in 2014, has a vestibule screen by James G Falconer, 1911, 2-leaf timber doors with glazed upper panels and square-leaded lights to sides and above. Parquet flooring to entrance hall. Wide stone dog-leg stair with decorative cast iron balusters and timber handrail. 6-panel timber doors to offices from landing, timber door with replacement glazing in upper panel. Courtroom has coved ceiling with decorative cornice. Partially refurbished fixtures, circa 1990, with pine wainscoting, panelled timber bench with fretwork decoration of anthemion and palmette motifs. The main offices at ground and first floor level show evidence of corner fireplaces (now covered or infilled). Decorative 19th century gas-lamp fittings and brackets survive throughout the building.

Statement of Special Interest

Oban Sheriff Court is an imposing and well-detailed Italianate-Renaissance county court house. Completed in 1889 the building is classically proportioned with bold detailing to its principal north and east elevations, including moulded bandcourse between first floor windows, dentilled parapet and blocking course and the large, moulded round-headed windows indicating the courtroom at first floor level.

Oban Sheriff Court is located on a prominent corner site on Albany Street, the principal thoroughfare through the burgh, It is at the centre of a group of late 19th century civic buildings including a Police Station and County Municipal Buildings opposite (see separate listings).

David Mackintosh was a local architect of considerable ability, having been in partnership with the renowned and highly prolific Highland architect, Alexander Ross, between 1875 and 1883. Oban Sheriff Court was one of his most high profile works, commissioned shortly after he set up practice on his own around 1886.

The development of the court house as a building type in Scotland follows the history of the Scottish legal system and wider government reforms. The majority of purpose-built court houses were constructed in the 19th century as by this time there was an increase in the separation of civic, administrative and penal functions into separate civic and institutional buildings, and the resultant surge of public building was promoted by new institutional bodies. The introduction of the Sheriff Court Houses (Scotland) Act of 1860 gave a major impetus to the increase and improvement of court accommodation and the provision of central funding was followed by the most active period of sheriff court house construction in the history of the Scottish legal system, and many new court houses were built or reworked after this date.

Court houses constructed after 1860 generally had a solely legal purpose and did not incorporate a prison, other than temporary holding cells. The courts were designed in a variety of architectural styles but often relied heavily on Scots Baronial features to reference the fortified Scottish building tradition. Newly constructed court buildings in the second half of the 19th century dispensed with large public spaces such as county halls and instead provided bespoke office accommodation for the sheriff, judge and clerks, and accommodated the numerous types of court and holding cells.

Statutory address and listed building record revised as part of the Scottish Courts Listing Review, 2014-15. Previously listed as 'Albany Street, Sheriff Court-House'.

References

Bibliography

Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland: http://www.rcahms.gov.uk/canmore.html CANMORE ID: 233807.

Ordnance Survey (Surveyed 1898, Published 1899) Argyllshire, 25 Miles to the Inch. 2nd Edition. London: Ordnance Survey.

Groome, F.H. (1896) Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland. Vol.1 p.125.

Historic Scotland (2014) Scottish Courts Preliminary Report at http://www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/scottish-courts-preliminary-report.pdf.

The National Archives of Scotland. Guide to Sheriff Court Records at http://www.nas.gov.uk/guides/sheriffcourt.asp [accessed 02 September 2014].

Dictionary of Scottish Architects. Oban Sheriff Court House at http://www.scottisharchitects.org.uk/building_full.php?id=101332 [accessed 02 September 2014].

About Listed Buildings

Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.

We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.

Listing is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for buildings of special architectural or historic interest as set out in the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997.

We list buildings which are found to be of special architectural or historic interest using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)

Listed building records provide an indication of the special architectural or historic interest of the listed building which has been identified by its statutory address. The description and additional information provided are supplementary and have no legal weight.

These records are not definitive historical accounts or a complete description of the building(s). If part of a building is not described it does not mean it is not listed. The format of the listed building record has changed over time. Earlier records may be brief and some information will not have been recorded.

The legal part of the listing is the address/name of site which is known as the statutory address. Other than the name or address of a listed building, further details are provided for information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland does not accept any liability for any loss or damage suffered as a consequence of inaccuracies in the information provided. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing. Even if a number or name is missing from a listing address it will still be listed. Listing covers both the exterior and the interior and any object or structure fixed to the building. Listing also applies to buildings or structures not physically attached but which are part of the curtilage (or land) of the listed building as long as they were erected before 1 July 1948.

While Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating listed buildings, the planning authority is responsible for determining what is covered by the listing, including what is listed through curtilage. However, for listed buildings designated or for listings amended from 1 October 2015, legal exclusions to the listing may apply.

If part of a building is not listed, it will say that it is excluded in the statutory address and in the statement of special interest in the listed building record. The statement will use the word 'excluding' and quote the relevant section of the 1997 Act. Some earlier listed building records may use the word 'excluding', but if the Act is not quoted, the record has not been revised to reflect subsequent legislation.

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Find out more about listing and our other designations at www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support. You can contact us on 0131 668 8914 or at designations@hes.scot.

Images

Oban Sheriff Court and Justice Of The Peace Court, principal and northeast elevation, looking south, during daytime on an overcast day.
Interior of main courtroom, Oban Sheriff Court and Justice Of The Peace Court.

Printed: 28/03/2024 09:05