The capital city’s aging court buildings are a growing concern for the province’s Chief Justice.

Deborah Fry addressed the Rotary Club of St. John’s this week, outlining some of her concerns about local court buildings, many of which are well over a century old.

She wants government to consider the physical condition and suitability of court buildings in the region.

Fry offered up the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court Building as examples.

The original Supreme Court building on Duckworth Street was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1892.

She says the state of the building was so bad at the time that the benchers of the Law Society seemed glad it was consumed in the fire. They noted in their 1893 minutes, “the total destruction of the courthouse satisfactorily remedied the insufficiencies of the building.”

The “new” building was opened in 1904, and Fry points out that much has changed since then. The Court of Appeal building, which dates to the 1860s, was the former site of the Union Bank of Newfoundland, which survived the 1892 fire by virtue of steel shutters on the windows that prevented flankers from getting inside.

She says it goes without saying that the 21st century requirements to provide increased numbers of judges, litigants and court rooms have changed dramatically since the late 1800s. Many court buildings outside St. John’s are newer and “fit for purpose,” including the new family division courthouse in St. John’s that opened last year.