The Richmond Hospital in North Brunswick St. has a new phase of life as a District Court building.

It’s a fine two story building of red brick and terracotta with two wings on either side of a fine staircase to the entrance.

Court 52 is clearly occupying what was once a hospital ward; broad and well lit, with gracious ceiling height in proportion to the size of the space.

The structure inspires confidence in its developers, the medical men (and women?) who brought it into being. There would have been no surgical swabs left unforgotten by those people in a patient after the scalpel wound was sewn up. They also believed in the germ theory of disease.

This sense of carefulness and planning can be seen in the title documents of the premises. I acted for a potential unsuccessful purchaser when it ceased to be a hospital and was offered for sale.

The Hospital trustees had been very careful over a long period of time and never failed to use the services of a good surveyor or cartographer. In addition they had been compelled to assemble the site painstakingly, each sliver of land (particularly on the road frontage) being carefully mapped and associated with its title deeds.

Again, thanks to the same people, it now helps to bring a civilized tone to what can be a stressful process (even for the lawyers).