[1] At the time, the Bigges were developing a number of trading, timber, warehousing and maritime activities at Cleveland Point, which had served as the port for Dunwich during the penal settlement of Moreton Bay.

[1] William Davidson Ross, a retired Brisbane furniture dealer and later chairman of the Cleveland Divisional Board, acquired the property in 1882, occupying it as his residence.

[1] The former court house, (the earliest section of what is now an extended restaurant), is a single-storeyed painted brick building.

It is a compact rectangular form, low set and abutting the footpath line, where Paxton Street leads down to Moreton Bay.

[1] The hipped corrugated iron roof is bell-cast over the front and former verandah spaces along the rear and eastern side.

On the western end, the hip incorporates a timber louvred ridge gable, with curved metal finial.

[1] The front verandah is sheeted to sill height with weather-boards, in a bowed profile, fixed to shaped studs.

A second fireplace, originally from the Bellevue Hotel in Brisbane, has been installed in the enclosed verandah space adjoining the restaurant extension.

[1] Ye Olde Court House Restaurant retains a significant historic form, in the early low-set open verandah abutting Paxton Street.