Courthouse designed in 1888 and built in 1889-1890. The courthouse, which is part of the façade wall on the east side of Jansstraat, was designed by the architect W.C. Metzelaar, who at that time was employed by the State Building Department as "engineer-architect of prisons and courthouses". The construction of the complex was carried out by the contractor C. Eijsvogel from Aarlanderveen. The neo-Renaissance style courthouse, which currently houses the district court, was extensively remodeled in the period 1983-1987. In this renovation, only the original facade remained and new construction was built behind it. N.B. The protection focuses exclusively on the facade of the building at 81 Jansstraat. Description The courthouse located in the wall on the east side of Jansstraat consists of a basement, ground floor, first floor and upper floor and is covered by a truncated hipped roof with gray Dutch tiles. The front facade of the building is built of red brick on a bosch plinth of bluestone at the level of the basement. The facade is divided into three bays, with the five-window wide central bay slightly receding. Each bay possesses above the wooden cornice a small dormer with wooden pediment. The front facade is decorated with detailing in sandstone, such as cornices, lintels and corner stones. The cornice is supported by sandstone consoles. Around the wooden fixed windows there are also details of sandstone, such as the keystones in the bars above the windows and the Doric square columns that act as the center axis of the windows. In the basement, these columns between the windows are made of bluestone. Between the basement and the bel-etage and between the bel-etage and the floor is a horizontal band filled with ornamental work of colored brick and sandstone. The entrance to the courthouse is located in the middle of the receding middle bay and is formed by a bluestone landing with on either side of it a bluestone staircase leading to the wooden double door at the level of the bel-etage. The landing is closed by a sandstone balcony supported by sandstone pilasters or columns with balustrade. The frieze along the front of the richly ornamented balcony reads "Justitia" in natural stone lettering. The bluestone railings along the double staircase both end on the street side in a block-shaped decoration with a crown carved in bluestone on top of it. The block shape itself has the coat of arms of the Netherlands carved all around it. In the banister end of the left staircase are the initials of the architect: 'WCM' (W.C. Metzelaar). Below the landing is a slightly altered entrance to the basement. Waardering Overwhelmingly intact facade of a courthouse built at the end of the 19th century in neo-Renaissance style, of general importance because of its architectural-historical value, its cultural-historical value as a courthouse and within the oeuvre of W.C. Metzelaar, who as an architect was in the service of the judiciary; also important because of its image-determining location in the wall along the east side of the Jansstraat.