The Court of Appeal of Crete is housed in one of the most emblematic historical buildings of the city of Chania, in the Chania Courthouse, in Eleftherias Square.
The Judicial-Administrative Building, or Directorate Building, or Building of the Courts began to be built in the last years of the Turkish occupation and was intended for a military Turkish hospital.
By order of Sakir Pasha, shortly after 1884, its design and construction was entrusted to the Italian engineer Nicolao Maguso and the also Italian contractor Sebastian Primiterra, who had also undertaken the construction of the Italian Barracks (the first public building of the city outside the walls). Maguso mainly oversaw the construction of the middle section, followed by various Italian engineers. In 1893, the news of the supervision of the project by the civil-mechanical engineer Michalis Savvakis, who completed it, is recorded. Its construction was mainly done by stonemasons from Apokoronas and Gavalochori, who carved its characteristic stone decorations stone by stone, while the reports about the labors of the Nizamids who carried the stones.
The building is made up of wings, which in a free rectangle composition create an internal characteristic atrium and at the same time free passages to it from the facade of the building. The atrium, planted with pine trees, is formed on two levels, one low and two raised to the right and left of the central entrance of the Courts.
With the establishment of the autonomous Cretan state, the Court of Appeal of Crete and the other courts were established in the western and eastern wings.
On May 13, 1900, with the completion of the floor, the Higher Directorates; the “Ministries” of Crete, were transferred from Halepa to the building.
After the installation of the authorities, the stairs of the Courthouse are lined with marble and studies are drawn up for the execution of works that complement it.
This building is the second public building after the Italian Barracks that was built outside the walls of the old city and with its morphology it greatly influenced the structure of the first plan of the new city and the drawing of some of the main road axes, as well as the creation of Eleftherias Square. Immediately after its completion and the start of its operation, perpendicular to it, today’s Iroon Polytechniou street, then Public Offices street, was opened to connect the building with the palace and Halepa. It also determined the axes of today’s Sfakianaki, Al. Papanastasiou, Giamboudaki streets, parallel to this, and for its connection with the Italian Barracks and the Municipal Garden. Finally, its connection with the old city determined the axis of today’s Andr. Papandreou street.
In 1936, after a fire that caused a lot of damage to the building, the third floor was added to the north wing and its radical renovation was carried out.
In addition, there was a radical repair of the building after its arson in July 1990.
Today, alongside the Court of Appeal of Crete, it houses the Prosecutor’s Office of Appeals of Crete, the Court of First Instance of Chania, the Prosecutor’s Office of First Instance of Chania, the Juvenile and Social Assistance Service of Chania, the Martial-Naval-Air Force Courts of Chania, the offices of the Chania Bar Association (Library, Environmental Law Observatory, etc.), the Chania Regional Unit and the Citizens’ Service Center (KEP).
With information from Emilia Kladou-Bletsa’s book “Chania outside the walls”, Published by the Technical Chamber of Greece Western Crete Department, 2nd edition, Athens 1998.