The Central Police Station , also known as the Bridewell

Bridewell Palace

Bridewell Palace in London, originally a residence of King Henry VIII, later became a poorhouse and prison. The name "Bridewell" subsequently became synonymous with police stations and detention facilities in England and in Ireland...

 is a historic building on Nelson Street, Broadmead, Bristol

Bristol

Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

History

It was built in 1928 by Ivor Jones

Ivor Jones

Ivor Egwad Jones CBE was a Welsh rugby union player who played as a back-row forward, mainly at flanker, for Llanelli and won 16 caps for Wales, three of them as captain....

 and Percy Thomas

Percy Thomas

Sir Percy Edward Thomas OBE , was an award-winning British architect based in Wales for the majority of his life. He was twice RIBA president ....

 and opened as a police station

Police station

A police station or station house is a building which serves to accommodate police officers and other members of staff. These buildings often contain offices and accommodation for personnel and vehicles, along with locker rooms, temporary holding cells and interview/interrogation rooms.- Facilities...

 in November 1930 near the site of a previous station. Neighbouring buildings housed law courts and a fire station. It closed as a working police station in August 2005.

The building has been designated by English Heritage

English Heritage

English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...

 as a grade II listed building.

Current and Future Uses

In December 2007 a graffiti exhibition was held in the Old Bridewell Police Station building to raise funds for Bristol Childrens Hospital. 70 artists took part and an artwork was donated by Banksy

Banksy

Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based graffiti artist, political activist, film director, and painter.His satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine irreverent dark humour with graffiti done in a distinctive stencilling technique...

to the cause.

Currently the building is a temporary home for Art Space Life Space by agreement with the property developers Urban Splash whilst a new use for the site is found.