Built in 1874, the Old Courthouse was the administrative and judicial heart of Brooke Sarawak, and it is the most complete surviving group of Brooke-era public buildings in the state. Deep colonnaded verandahs run around a courtyard, shaded by a heavy belian — Borneo ironwood — roof, with a clock tower added in 1883 and the Charles Brooke Memorial standing in front of it.
The courts moved out in the 1990s, and rather than being mothballed the complex was given back to the city as a public precinct. It now holds cafes, galleries and event spaces, and it fills up in the evenings — which is arguably the most sympathetic thing that could have happened to a building designed around the idea of shade and open air.
