In 1794, the city purchased a building at the southern corner of college and Benefit Streets originally built in 1723 by the First Congregational Society for use as a meeting house.

[1][2] In March 1875, the property was condemned and a city commission began work to construct a new public building at the site.

The resulting courthouse, was designed by Stone & Carpenter in the High Victorian Gothic style.

Among the reasons cited for the construction of a new building were the prior structure's inadequate space and lack of fireproofing.

Woodward also commends the fragmentation of the building's large mass into "visually digestible units".