[8] Pittsburgh's original courthouse, first occupied in 1794, was a wooden structure located on one side of Market Square.

This court house was built with polished gray sandstone, quarried at Coal Hill (present-day Mount Washington), opposite Water Street along the Monongahela River.

[10] Following the destruction of the second courthouse, Allegheny County Commissioners decided to hold a competition to design a replacement.

The entire complex was built of large rusticated blocks of granite, with the entrance ways and windows topped with wide arches.

A grand stairway was built, but removed during street widening in the 1930s- the low arched doorways were extended downwards to street level, with the result that the visitor is not greeted by the grand entrance hall Richardson planned, but by the low corridors which were once the basement.

Muralist Vincent Nesbert completed five murals for the building on its first floor in 1937: "Industry", "Justice", "Peace", "Fort Duquesne" and "The Battle of Grant's Hill.

The old jail underwent a transformation to become the Family Division of the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas.

[14] The conversion, which cost approximately $25 million and took two years to complete, aimed to retain key elements of the jail like the rotunda, the cell blocks, and the warden's office.

[14] The restoration work involved asbestos removal, new plumbing and electrical systems installation, air conditioning addition, and new offices and courtrooms creation.

It also encompassed the preservation of the historic elements like the stone facade, the ironwork, and the stained glass windows.