Maricopa County's facilities were an imposing two-story brick building in Block 76 of the townsite, completed in 1884; meanwhile, the original 1889 Phoenix city hall, which was designed by James M. Creighton and doubled as territorial capital until 1901, was also becoming too cramped for continued use.

On April 28, 1927,[2] the county board of supervisors passed a resolution stating that the current courthouse and jail were no longer adequate for their needs.

Meanwhile, Phoenix, whose growth in the 1920s had led to at least eight new high-rise buildings downtown, saw an opportunity in the new county courthouse project to get a city hall.

With approval from both the board and the mayor and continued pressure from Judge Smith and the chamber of commerce, the ball began to roll.

With the building half completed, the city and county hosted a dedication ceremony conducted by the Arizona Grand Lodge of Masons.

Among the dignitaries present were Senator Carl Hayden, the acting Grand Orator, and Col. John Philip Sousa, conducting the Marine Corps Band.

[2] At the ceremony, the cornerstone of Arizona granite was laid, and a time capsule, coated in copper and containing documents, emblems and other ephemera, was mortared inside with a silver trowel.

The building housed the City Justice of the Peace and the Maricopa County Superior Court, making it an important hub of legal activity in the Phoenix area.

[4] With Phoenix and Maricopa County both continuing with explosive growth after World War II, the joint city-county building, which represented a vastly different era in state history, now was as inadequate as the structures it had replaced.

The courthouse was designed by Shreveport architect Edward Neild in conjunction with the influential Phoenix firm of Lescher & Mahoney.

[2] The structure itself sits on a raised foundation story made of evenly coursed terra cotta panels, with unornamented window openings.

The exterior is clad in rusticated terra cotta panels of various colors that simulate yellow sandstone and also lend the building an appearance similar to that of masonry.

[2] The most ornamentation is to be found on the building's upper two stories, used as the jail with a third masonry expression utilizing terra cotta panels.

The bays rise to a segmented arch with radiating elements echoing those in the entryways, creating a Neoclassical, form-based appearance.

Some finishes and ceilings were obscured, fire-rated doors were added, and several rooms were divided, but the courtrooms were still predominantly intact in the late 1980s.