The judicial system of the Republic of Poland developed over many years. The highest courts were generally housed in imposing historic buildings. In contrast, at least a dozen or so new premises were built for the other courts. The building of the former District Court in Pinsk is considered one of the most impressive buildings of the Second Polish Republic.

The interwar judiciary of the Republic of Poland
The structure of the judiciary in the Second Polish Republic was not finally established until 1929, when the Act on the Organisation of the Ordinary Courts came into force. The ordinary courts comprised a network of municipal courts, previously known as magistrates’ courts or district courts (first instance for minor civil and criminal cases), 51 district courts (first instance for more serious criminal and civil cases, and second instance for rulings of municipal courts), eight courts of appeal (second instance for rulings of district courts and first instance for specific cases, as specified by statute, e.g. in espionage cases) and the Supreme Court, which heard appeals against rulings of second-instance courts (cassation appeals).

The courts of the highest instance were generally housed in imposing historic buildings. For the district and municipal courts, however, at least a dozen or so new premises were built. These, particularly the district courts, rank among the most imposing buildings of the Second Polish Republic. One of them was the District Court in Pinsk.

Kazimierz Tołłoczko – architect of the Pinsk court
The architectural design for the Pinsk court was produced by Kazimierz Tołłoczko (1886–1960), a well-known Warsaw architect and graduate of the Lviv Polytechnic. In the interwar period, he served as head of one of the departments at the Ministry of Public Works; until 1930, he lectured at the Warsaw University of Technology and also ran a private practice.

He was responsible for numerous projects in Warsaw, including buildings for non-commissioned officers on Ułańska Street and for officers on Czerniakowska and Inżynierska Streets, professors’ houses on Brzozowa Street, the so-called ‘journalists’ estate’ in Żoliborz and the Academic Colony on Narutowicza Square. Furthermore, he designed the District Court in Białystok and the Tadeusz Kościuszko Grammar School in Łuck, as well as standard residential houses for the Military Housing Fund built in Skierniewice, Lida, Brest-on-the-Bug, Grajewo, Suwałki, Toruń, Bydgoszcz and Jarosław.

When designing large public buildings, Tołłoczko favoured combining monumental features with far-reaching modernisation, even drawing on functionalist designs. This combination is clearly evident in the courthouse in Białystok (1929–1932), with its symmetrical, conventionally shaped façade featuring a central risalit. The avant-corps is the modern equivalent of a classical columned portico: it is regularly divided by narrow panels resembling pilaster strips, whilst the side sections follow the Corbusierian model, grouping the windows into horizontal arrangements. The outer axes are accentuated by solid walls with panels decorated with bas-reliefs on classical themes (plaques bearing a Roman maxim, framed by lictor’s rods).

The architecture of the Pinsk courthouse
The architectural concept for the District Court in Pinsk underwent a certain evolution. The first design, drawn up in 1926, envisaged a building with an ‘E’-shaped ground plan. The façade had a somewhat monotonous appearance, enlivened only by the horizontally rusticated ground floor and diamond-shaped rustication in the central section and at the corners. For unknown reasons, this austere, monumental proposal was never realised.

Two years later, Tołłoczko produced another design, formally similar to the Białystok concept. The exceptionally elongated façade was to consist of several sections. The left-hand section, flanked on both sides by stairwells, was framed by windows arranged in horizontal rows. The right-hand section was designed similarly to the avant-corps of the Białystok courthouse – it was clad with narrow panelling, with the entrance situated on the central axis and, above it, an ancient bas-relief depicting Roman judicial symbols (the lictor’s rods).

The final version, built around 1930, was designed differently by the architect. He returned to the concept of a central risalit, this time framing its central section with large-scale Ionic columns, whilst distinguishing the outer axes by slightly projecting them and omitting the vertical division. He articulated the side sections of the façade with flat pilaster strips. The whole structure, set on a plinth and crowned with an entablature and attic, has Classicist origins but has been significantly modernised. This is evidenced by the flat, almost sketchy divisions, the absence of any framing around the window openings, and even the form of the columns – these are rather simple piers, fitted with Ionic capitals.

The building currently serves as the headquarters of the Pinsk College of Industry and Education.