Order in the court!
A courthouse is generally best viewed from the outside (although our courthouse has some beautiful interiors). Old as it is, the Provincial Historic Resource on First Street is not our original courthouse.
Prior to 1893, court was held in the NWMP police barracks and then in the Reading Room of the Church of England. This is not St. Barnabas, which was constructed in 1912-13 but the earlier wooden church on the same site that dated from 1886.
In January 1893, contractor Harry Yuill was engaged to move the old immigration shed from its location near the railyard and to convert it into a police station with beds, barracks, jail and courthouse. This provided for a 20-by-30- ft. courtroom and two tables with a chair for the judge only, jury to stand. No doubt that made for quick verdicts! However, the citizens considered this courthouse to be “shabby,” especially compared to Fort Macleod and Lethbridge. When it burned down in 1897, no tears were shed.
A new, wooden courthouse was announced but not greeted with enthusiasm. A substantial brick and stone courthouse would have rivalled the neighbours’ but by 1899, the two storey 28-by-51-ft. building, with basement, was being constructed by Charles Purmal at the corner of Main (2nd) and North Railway. After the brick and sandstone courthouse was finally built, the old (second) courthouse was leased by the Great War Veterans’ Association in the early 1920s and served as the Legion building until it was demolished in 1969, although there was some discussion of moving it to Heritage Park.
The property for the current provincial courthouse was acquired in 1909, but finances delayed the project until Medicine Hat finally got the courthouse it deserved! Constructed between 1919 and 1920, the courthouse was designed by R.P. Blakey, public works architect, and is distinguished by its exuberant Beaux-Arts Classicist elements, including a symmetrical facade, coupled columns, and an ornate projecting entrance. It represents the earliest, most ornate, and best example of that style of Alberta courthouse design.
Previous courthouses constructed in Alberta had employed simple rectangular layouts, a design that allowed for court rooms to be centrally situated, insulated from external walls and the noise of the outside world. Blakey’s layout incorporated a main courtroom with large windows at the rear of the building. In 1986, an addition was made to the back of the courthouse, infilling the ‘L’ to create a more rectangular form. It used authentic red pressed brick and limestone and the building was reroofed in red clay tile. So well done is the addition that it takes a discerning eye to tell old from new. That’s a challenge!
Malcolm Sissons is the chair of the Heritage Resources Committee.