The structure was five bays wide and two piles deep, with doors located in the center and to the right corner of the facade.

The growth of Cleveland, and consequently the legal business of Cuyahoga County, had for some time foreshadowed the necessity for increased courthouse facilities, and action was taken in the period now under consideration.

It was decided to clear Public Square permanently of official buildings, and accordingly a new structure and a new site were agreed upon.

On November 10, 1857, the County Commissioners contracted with George P. Smith and James Pannell to erect a substantial stone edifice, three stories high, at a cost of $152,500.

It was nearly square, running seventy feet in each direction with rooms for various officials and the courts in the Seneca (West 3rd St.) front of the building, with the jail in the rear.

Therefore, a still further increase of facilities was made in 1884, when two stories were added to the old building on public square, at a cost of nearly $100,000.

The chimneys on the sides were built up to rise over the roof and were each equipped with pipes that ventilated many fireplaces and heaters.

The rusticated masonry of the ground floor includes deeply recessed and arched windows and doors.

The front entrance is flanked by bronze statues of Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton sculpted by Karl Bitter.

Directly above the front entry doors are three large arched windows between fluted columns of the Ionic order allowing daylight into the courtroom within.

The rear elevation facing Lake Erie is composed similarly, but with the inscription "Obedience to Law is Liberty".

A pediment with a plain tympanum surmounts the central element of the facade on both the north and south elevations.

[2] The interior contains murals by Frank Brangwyn, Violet Oakley, Charles Yardley Turner, Max Bohm and Frederick Wilson.