Until the mid-19th century, court hearings were held in the
old town house in Linlithgow. After finding this arrangement unsatisfactory, court officials decided to commission a dedicated courthouse: the site they selected, on the south side of the High Street, had been occupied by Archbishop
John Hamilton's house in the 16th century. The new building was designed by
Thomas Brown II and James Maitland Wardrop in the
Tudor Revival style, built in
rubble masonry and was completed in 1863. The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage of six bays facing onto the High Street. The windows were all
mullioned and
transomed. The first and last bays were gabled, with
lancet windows in the gables, and
finials at the apex of the gables. The second and fifth bays were narrow connecting bays with bipartite windows on both floors, and the third and fourth bays were projected forward, gabled and featured tall chimney stacks. The first and third bays were fenestrated with tri-partite windows on the ground floor and bipartite windows on the first floor, while the fourth bay featured an arched doorway with a
hood mould on the ground floor and a bipartite window on the first floor. The last bay was fenestrated by a
bay window on the ground floor and a bipartite window on the first floor. Internally, the principal rooms were the main courtroom, with a timber boarded ceiling, on the first floor, and the record room, with a triple
vaulted ceiling, on the ground floor. After the new
Livingston Sheriff Court at
West Lothian Civic Centre was completed in July 2009, Linlithgow Sheriff Court closed in August 2009. The courthouse was subsequently acquired by a developer and converted into 21 short-term accommodation suites. ==See also==