Victoria Law Courts

The Law Courts, or Victoria Law Courts as it used to be known, was formally opened on 24 May 1887. Before that time the Law Court was housed in the Public Buildings and before that the Court was housed in a wooden building located somewhere around the site of the present Public Buildings and was described in 1806 as "an old tottering building supported with poles".

By 1887 the Public Buildings which by then contained the Governor's Office as well as all departments of Government was becoming increasingly over-crowded and plans were drawn up for a separate building to house the Courts.

There is some controversy as to who the architect was - some think it was Dutch engineer Baron Hora Siccama who drew up plans and a Mr Hutchens who executed them, while others think Caesar Castellani was the architect of the building. The building located on the Avenue of the Republic between South Road and Charlotte Street, took nearly ten years to complete. The builders encountered great difficulty with the foundation and the style of architecture was thought to be closer to the style of timber-framed buildings of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.

The High Court was eventually opened on 24 May 1887 on the birthday of Queen Victoria during her Jubilee Year. On September 4 1894 a statue of Queen Victoria was unveiled by the Governor, Sir Charles Lees on the lawns in front of the building. After Guyana became an independent nation this statue was removed and placed on its side in the Botanical Gardens. In 1990 the statue was moved to the compound of the City Engineer's Department and was subsequently returned to the High Court as the pictures below illustrate.

Many thanks to Reshma for these two photos taken on 4 June 2007