Designed by architect Otto H. Matz and completed in 1892[2][3] or 1893,[4] it replaced and reused material from the earlier 1874 criminal courthouse at this site (the location of the trial and hangings related to the Haymarket Affair).

[5] The complex included, in addition to the successive courthouses, the cell blocks of the Cook County Jail, and a hanging gallows for prisoners sentenced to death.

During the 1920s the attached jail (which was behind the courthouse but has since been demolished) housed almost twice its intended capacity of 1,200 inmates, and a shortage of court rooms led to a backlog of cases.

[4] Other authors of Chicago's 1920s literary renaissance who were employed in the fourth floor pressroom include Carl Sandburg, Sherwood Anderson, and Vincent Starrett.

[4] In 1929, the Criminal Courts left the 54 West Hubbard Street location as did the Cook County Jail, and the building was then occupied by the Chicago Board of Health and other city agencies.