For the quality of its architecture, its social history, and its links to the 1967 Newark Riots, this jail was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 3, 1991.

Due to the urban environment and geography, the jail's various buildings are tightly crowded over 1.5 acres - originally with few green spaces between for inmate recreation.

This jail replaced an earlier structure located at the corner of Broad and Walnut Streets at the present site of the Grace Episcopal Church.

Haviland's jail consisted of a two-story square building built of brick and local brownstone in the Greek Revival style.

[8] The design called for demolishing the entire structure, but the city's landmarks committee, which seeks to have the jail preserved, rejected the plan in 2010.

[10] In spring 2018, a team of graduate students at Columbia University GSAPP researched the architectural and social history of this structure and set forth eleven proposals for the jail's reuse.

National Register of Historic Places listings in Essex County, New Jersey The architect John Haviland was known as the "jailer to the world."