Cairns Court House Complex
Cairns Court House Complex is a heritage-listed site incorporating a former courthouse and a former public administration building at 38–40 Abbott Street, Cairns City, Cairns, Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1919 to 1921. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.
History
The former Cairns Court House and the Cairns Art Gallery are located on a 2-acre site reserved since 1876 for police purposes. Both buildings were erected during the years between the First and Second World Wars, the third major phase of Cairns' development, at which time the city's status as the principal port of Far North Queensland was consolidated, and the city centre virtually re-built. Both are substantial masonry buildings, whose construction reflected Queensland Government confidence in the growth of Cairns as an important regional centre during the interwar period.Cairns was established officially in October 1876, as a port to service the newly discovered Hodgkinson goldfields. In this first phase of Cairns' development there was a small flurry of building activity, but the town competed with both Cooktown and Port Douglas for the Hodgkinson trade, and made little progress until the establishment of a local sugar industry and the opening up of the Atherton Tablelands' mineral fields, in the early 1880s. The 1885 announcement that Cairns was to be the terminus for the Herberton railway established the town as the principal port in the region. These boosts to the local economy in the 1880s generated a second building and development phase, during which the early temporary structures were replaced by more substantial timber buildings.
Whilst a number of masonry commercial buildings were erected in Cairns in the years immediately preceding the First World War, the third major phase of Cairns' development was during the 1920s and 1930s. The Cairns hinterland Soldier Settlement Schemes of the 1920s, the completion of the North Coast rail link to Brisbane in 1924, the extensive re-building necessitated by a spate of cyclones in the 1920s, and the poor condition of earlier timber structures, combined to produce unprecedented building activity in Cairns. The city centre in particular is dominated by masonry structures of the 1920s and 1930s, and in this respect is markedly different from other Queensland towns and cities. Reinforced concrete was the preferred building material, but the Queensland Government chose to erect the important Public Offices in brick.
Courthouse
The 1919–21 building was the third courthouse erected in Cairns. An 1878 marine survey of Cairns harbour indicates that the first courthouse was located on the customs reserve, and may have shared the same premises as the first customs house. This probably was the temporary courthouse erected by the Works Department (Queensland)|Works Department] in Cairns in December 1877.The "temporary" courthouse remained in use for several years, but was replaced during the second phase of Cairns' development. In 1883 the Works Department prepared plans for a more substantial timber courthouse, which was erected in 1884 on the Esplanade, but facing Abbott Street, on the police reserve. At the time, it was considered to be very fine, the best erected building in Cairns, both in so far as appearance and design as well as in construction. By 1890, however, the local court had outgrown its courthouse, and the building was in a state of disrepair. Despite repeated comment from public and judicial circles alike that the courthouse at Cairns was the worst on the circuit, it was not replaced until the present building was completed late in 1921.
In 1917, Alfred Barton Brady, Queensland Government Architect and Under Secretary for Public Works, finally acknowledged that the Cairns Court House was beyond renovation and that a new building was necessary. Plans were prepared in the government architect's office in 1918, working drawings were completed by January 1919, tenders for the supply of materials were called early in 1919, and construction was commenced in May that year. As a post-First World War initiative by the state government to create employment for returned servicemen, the new courthouse at Cairns was constructed using day labour, under the supervision of the District Foreman of Works, EJ Oakley. The construction period stretched over two and a half years, with the Cairns community attributing the slow progress of the building to the use of day labour.
Some of the joinery was made in government workshops in Brisbane and shipped to Cairns, but the remainder of the timber used in the construction was secured from the Cairns hinterland. Particularly impressive were the silky oak fittings in the court room. The roof was of fibrous-cement tiles with terracotta ridge capping. This roof was replaced with corrugated fibrous-cement roof sheeting in 1953, at which time the roof ventilators were removed.
By November 1921 the new courthouse, which had cost over, was completed, and the court room was used for the first time on 17 January 1922. From this first sitting, it was evident that although the room was well ventilated, the acoustics were poor due to the height of the ceiling. Not until 1959 was the problem rectified, with a false acoustic ceiling fixed to the existing beams.
In 1926, the city's sesqui-centenary year, the Cairns Chamber of Commerce requested that the Queensland Government improve the Court House grounds. In January 1927, the Cairns City Council agreed that their gardener at Edge Hill would lay out the grounds, to include concrete kerbing around the oval in the centre, and garden tile edging. Government approval for funding the project was granted in January 1928, and the gardens were completed by early 1929. Concrete paths were laid in the grounds in 1946, and in 1949/50 the grounds were replanted.
In 1968, the building was extended at a cost of approximately $53,000, with the extensions rendered to match the existing facades, and the roof re-clad with corrugated iron sheeting. The remodelling created a second court room and a magistrate's court.
In 1992, the building was vacated when a new courthouse and police station complex opened in Sheridan Street, and remained unused until it was renovated as the Cairns Courthouse Hotel in 1998.
Description
This complex, consisting of the Court House, Art Gallery and Abbott Street gardens, is located on the eastern corner of Abbott and Shields Streets within the Cairns central business district.Court House
The Court House is a single-storeyed rendered masonry building, with a hipped corrugated iron roof, fronting the Abbott Street gardens to the southwest. The building is T-shaped in plan, with offices and subsidiary court rooms forming the western wing and the main court room forming the eastern wing. The central entrance of the western wing has a recessed porch with a slightly projecting facade surmounted by a stepped parapet with a curved pediment, cornice and a lion and unicorn crest. This is supported by two columns flanked by pilasters and a section of concrete balustrade to either side. The southwest facade comprises a series of triple window units separated by pilasters with an expressed base, jettied eaves and deep sills. Each window unit has a double casement with a single casement either side and panelled hoppers above. An extra bay has been added to the north and south ends providing chambers and toilet facilities.This wing contains a central entry corridor flanked by offices with a court room to either side and chambers beyond these. Throughout this wing walls are rendered, suspended ceilings have been inserted and the original layout of spaces has been altered.
The central entrance of the eastern wing has a recessed porch with twin paired columns flanked by a single column to either side. The northwest facade has a double casement, with a panelled hopper above, to either side of the central porch and stepped parapets are located midway in the hipped roof revealing the corners of the main court room.
Verandahs are located on the southeast, northwest and between the eastern and western wings. These have timber posts on masonry upstands with timber batten balustrade between, arched timber valance, raked boarded ceilings and timber floors. Arched panelled windows with central hopper sections, lighting the main court room, are located above the verandah line with deep curved timber eave brackets. Below these are French doors, with panelled glass upper portions and hopper fanlights, and casement windows opening onto the verandah.
Internally, the main court room contains silky oak fittings including the Judge's bench, which sits on a raised platform with a lion and unicorn crest on the wall behind, the prisoner's dock, jury and press seating and gallery rail. French doors and casement windows are separated by plaster pilasters with cornices above. At the eastern end, former witness rooms are located on either side of main court room. The northern room contains a hardboard ceiling with timber cover strips and the southern room has had an extension to the south to provide toilet facilities.
A row of palm trees is located to the northeast of the building lining the driveway from The Esplanade. To the west of this building is the Art Gallery.
Abbott Street Gardens
The Abbott Street gardens form the southwest entry to the courthouse. These consist of a series of sinuous concrete paths and concrete edgings enclosing areas of lawn with clusters of plants. Palm trees are strategically located within the lawn areas, with a row forming a border to Abbott Street.Heritage listing
Cairns Court House Complex was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992 having satisfied the following criteria.The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history.
The Cairns Court House Complex survives as an important illustration of the growth and rebuilding of Cairns in the interwar years, when Cairns was transformed from a late 19th century town to a progressive, post-war city. In particular, the place illustrates State Government confidence in Cairns as an important regional centre after the First World War, without which confidence little of the city's spectacular growth at this time would have been possible. The complex has sustained a continued government presence in Cairns since the establishment of the town in 1876, in particular as the site of the Cairns Court House from 1884 to 1992.
The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.
In particular, the place illustrates State Government confidence in Cairns as an important regional centre after the First World War, without which confidence little of the city's spectacular growth at this time would have been possible.
The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.
The Cairns Court House Complex, comprising a single-storeyed masonry Court House and two-storeyed masonry former Public Offices together with established gardens, imbue a formal expression of fine quality interwar public architecture adapted to suit a tropical climate. The classical detailing and interior finishes of the former Public Offices express a high quality of design and workmanship.
The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.
The Cairns Court House Complex survives as an important illustration of the growth and rebuilding of Cairns in the interwar years, when Cairns was transformed from a late 19th century town to a progressive, post-war city.
The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history.
The complex has sustained a continued government presence in Cairns since the establishment of the town in 1876, in particular as the site of the Cairns Court House from 1884 to 1992.