Until the early 1990s, crown court hearings were held in the Old Town Hall in St Peter's Street.

[1] However, as the number of court cases in St Albans grew, it became necessary to commission a more modern courthouse for criminal matters.

4 Bricket Road, which had been the home of Captain Lightly Harold Birt of the 1st Battalion, Royal Berkshire Regiment, who had been awarded the Distinguished Service Order for his actions in the First World War.

[2][3][4] The new building was designed by Macintosh Haines and Kennedy in the Modernist style, built in brown and red brick at a cost of £16.3 million,[5] and was completed in 1992.

The central bay was surmounted by a tower which was slightly projected forward in relation to the lower floors and contained a 16-pane casement window at attic level.