Police Station and Magistrates' Court

The police station and magistrates' court in Widnes was one of the last few to be built before the Lancashire County Architect's Department set about their programme of standardised construction. It was demolished shortly after the police moved into a new building in 2015. Situated at the junction of Kingsway and Milton Road, the buildings formed part of a civic cluster. The police HQ was a five-storey pre-cast concrete 'H' framed construction, with a single storey cell block providing the link to the magistrates' court. The block was clad in brick, or marble panels and the windows were anodised alumnium throughout. The Courts themselves were of steel framed construction with a novel copper-clad roof feature that enabled high level light to enter the spaces below. It is worth conisdering this roof alongside that of Morecambe Library, also by the Department at around the same time. The glazing strategy and the design of the roof were intended to 'obviate much of the oppressive character of more traditional court rooms' [1]. The scheme was directed by C.A. Spivey, Assistant County Architect with J.R.G. Humphreys as Project Architect, both working under Roger Booth. The contractor was Henry Boot of Liverpool who built to a fixed price contract of £308,000.

[1] Report of the County Architect, 1966-67, p.15