In the 18th century the justices held the assizes in the Shire Hall (also known as the County House) beside Palace Green; they then moved to a new courthouse at the head of Old Elvet in 1811.

[5] It was designed by Harry Barnes and Frederick Coates in the Baroque Revival style, built by David and John Rankin at a cost of £14,000 and was officially opened by Alderman Samuel Storey on 26 July 1898.

[1][6][7] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with nine bays in red terracotta facing onto Old Elvet with the end bays slightly projected forwards; the central section, which also slightly projected forwards, featured an arched doorway on the ground floor with a wrought-iron grill; there was a pair of round headed windows on the first floor and a tower with a copper-clad dome at roof level.

[5] A new wing, banded in stone and brick, which added an extra three bays to the east of the main building, was completed in 1905.

[8] After the County Council moved to County Hall at Aykley Heads in October 1963,[10] the Shire Hall served as the administrative headquarters of Durham University until September 2012 when the University moved to the Mountjoy site, in the Palatine Centre on Stockton Road.