[1] Until the mid-19th century, court hearings were held in the old town house in Linlithgow.

[2] After finding this arrangement unsatisfactory, court officials decided to commission a dedicated courthouse: the site they selected, on the south side of the High Street, had been occupied by Archbishop John Hamilton's house in the 16th century.

[3][4] The new building was designed by Thomas Brown II and James Maitland Wardrop in the Tudor Revival style, built in rubble masonry and was completed in 1863.

[5] The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage of six bays facing onto the High Street.

[9][10] The courthouse was subsequently acquired by a developer and converted into 21 short-term accommodation suites.