[2][3] In response the Lord Chancellor's Department commissioned a combined courts centre in Barclay Road: the site chosen was open land on the north side of Barclay Road in an area known as Fair Field, which had been an area used for hosting fairs and outside performances in the 19th century.

[6] It was designed by Robert Atkinson & Partners in the modernist style,[7] built in concrete and glass and was completed in 1968.

The side sections, which were projected forward, featured large concrete walls which were cantilevered out over the pavement at the first and second floor levels.

[11] As the number of court cases in Croydon grew, it became necessary to commission more courtroom space: the site selected for the new courthouse was on an adjacent site, on the west side of Altyre Road, just to the east of the existing law courts and separated only by the Thameslink railway line.

The new building was designed by the Property Services Agency in the modernist style, built in buff stone at a cost of £15.2 million,[12] and was completed in 1991.