WOODEND COURT HOUSE

 

 

The Woodend Court House, erected in 1870, was designed by H.A. Williams of the Public Works Department and built by Grant and Johnson. The original two-roomed court house was constructed of brick on bluestone footings, with a gabled slate roof and timber verandah to Forest Street. The building was extended in 1885 by the addition of a second office to the eastern elevation. The following objects integral are located in the court room:

The Woodend Court House is of historic and architectural significance to the State of Victoria. It satisfies the following criterion for inclusion in the Victorian Heritage Register:
Criterion A
Importance to the course, or pattern, of Victoria’s cultural history.
Criterion D
Importance in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class of cultural places and objects

 

The Woodend Court House is historically significant for its association with legal processes in Victoria from 1870 to the 1970s. It has been used by the Court of Petty Sessions/Magistrates’ Court, Children’s Court, Licensing Bench/Licensing Court and Coroners Court. The Woodend Court House demonstrates the development of legal institutions across Victoria from the nineteenth century onwards. The Woodend Court House also has a collection of late nineteenth-century court room furnishings that demonstrate the building’s use. 

 

The Woodend Court House is architecturally significant as a substantially intact example of a nineteenth-century court house designed by the Public Works Department (PWD) in a conservative classical style with a timber verandah. The original two roomed courthouse is constructed of brick to a simple, well-proportioned design with refined details, including a pediment picked out in decorative brickwork. The facade of the building is characterised by the distinctive timber lattice friezes and timber brackets to the verandah.