[2] It was built at the personal expense of the local landowner and Member of Parliament for Lisburn Sir Richard Wallace, 1st Baronet, of Antrim Castle, and demonstrated his significant financial and political commitment made to the town.

[3] The design was based on a largely un-executed design by Andrea Palladio for the Villa Ragona Cecchetto, in Ghizzole, Montegaldella, Veneto, Italy, for his client Girolamo Ragona, a deputy of the nearby City of Vicenza.

[4] It involved a symmetrical main frontage which featured a tetrastyle portico with Corinthian order columns supporting a frieze and a heavily carved pediment, on which was sculpted the Wallace coat of arms and his motto "Esperance" (English: "hope").

[8] The design involved a central section which featured a glass entrance on the ground floor and a row of glazing on the first floor with black panels above and below; the left and right sections were left as bare concrete: it has been described by one of the local councillors as "one of the city's ugliest buildings".

[9] In May 2012 the justice minister, David Ford, said that he accepted an inspection report recommending that the Lisburn Courthouse should close in a proposed rationalisation of the court system.