View from Old Square of the Victoria Law Courts, the old County Court building and the Methodist Central Hall building The Victoria Law Courts is a Grade I listed red brick and terracotta building that now houses the Birmingham Magistrates Court. It was designed by Aston Webb & Ingress Bell of London. It is faced in entirely deep red terracotta from the clay of Ruabon in North Wales. The foundation stone was laid in 1887 by Queen Victoria, the year of her Golden Jubilee. It was built by Birmingham firm John Bowen and Sons. The court was opened in 1891 by the Prince and Princess of Wales (the future King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra). The Methodist Central Hall is a Grade II* listed building, and is made of terracotta. At 196 - 224 Corporation Street.
It is also listed as being at 1, 3 and 5 Ryder Street.
Built 1903 - 04 by E and J A Harper. Red brick and terracotta. Three storeys; 5 bays to the left, 7 to the right, of the tall slender tower. Ground floor with shops (nos 208, 214, 216 and 220 with their original shop fronts) and the deep arched entrance porch with excellent figure carving over and within it. To the left, couplets of depressed arched windows above tall canted bay windows; to the right, the main hall on the 1st floor represented by large round-arched traceried windows above small bow windows. Across the top a parapet and little polygonal turrets, their capping differing between left and right. The tower rises square and sheer almost to the top where its elaboration of detail matches that of the lower facades. The return on Ryder Street is similar and has more original shop fronts eg No 5 and especially No 3 on the corner. <a href="http://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=217015&resourceID=5" rel="nofollow">Methodist Central Hall - 1, 3 and 5 Ryder Street and 196 - 224 Corporation Street - Heritage Gateway</a> |