Architect James Townsend used commercially available (although inexact) copies of the Corinthian capitals from the Monument of Lysicrates in Athens.

The two front corners have large pilasters; the original stone plinth blocks have been replaced with concrete copies and the astragals taken down to help prevent dry rot in the columns.

[1] After the New York state legislature divided Putnam County from Dutchess to its north in 1812, it required the creation of two courts.

After three months, one state legislator who had voted for Putnam County's creation, Robert Weeks, sold it a one-half acre (2,000 m²) lot in the middle of Carmel.

Officials initially decided to build a second one in Cold Spring, at the other end of the road that became Route 301, on the Hudson River where much of the county's population was.

The county sheriff began living in the building at this time, and it became a tradition for his wife to cook food for the jail inmates.

[2] A newer, more modern court facility was built behind the Putnam County Office Building and opened January 2, 2008.