[1] The previous civic building in the town was the Moot Hall on the north side of the Market Place.

[2] In the early 1770s, Newark Corporation decided to commission a more substantial municipal structure on the west side of the Market Place.

[3] The new building was designed by John Carr in the neoclassical style, built in ashlar stone and was completed in 1776.

[5] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with seven bays facing onto the Market Place; the central section of three bays, which slightly projected forward, featured a giant tetrastyle portico with Doric order columns supporting a pediment with the borough coat of arms in the tympanum and a statue of justice at its apex.

The main assembly room, which has also been used as a ballroom and concert hall, was designed to also serve as the borough law court.