[1][2] A third town hall, which once more acted as a courthouse and incorporated assembly rooms, opened in Howard Street in 1853 and was then remodelled to a design by a Mr Lovell in 1897.

[6] The building, which had been designed in the neoclassical style and built in white Portland stone, had opened as the West Riding County Courthouse in 1929.

[7] The design for the courthouse involved a symmetrical main frontage with fifteen bays facing onto Moorgate Street; the central section of seven bays, which slightly projected forward and was taller than the rest of the building, featured five round headed windows on the ground floor flanked by two doorways each flanked by Doric order columns supporting pediments (one doorway for the nisi prius court and one for the Crown Court); there were three round headed windows on the first floor: the building had also incorporated a police station.

[9][10] Following a protracted procurement process, the magistrates' new facilities at the Statutes, off Main Street, eventually became available and they were able to vacate the building in May 1994.

[11] A cannon, manufactured by Samuel Walker & Company in Masbrough and recovered from use on a naval vessel, was installed outside the building in 1995.