The building was commissioned by the local landowner, William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire, whose seat was at Lismore Castle.[4] It was designed by John Carr in the neoclassical style, built in ashlar stone and was completed in around 1815.[5]
The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of three bays facing onto Main Street. The central bay, which was slightly projected forward, featured a porch formed by Doric order columns supporting an entablature and cornice on the ground floor, and a tall round headed window on the first floor, all surmounted by a pediment. The outer bays were fenestrated by sash windows on both floors. There was originally a central cupola behind the pediment. Internally, the principal rooms were a market hall on the ground floor and a courtroom on the first floor.[6]
Following the adoption of the Towns Improvement (Ireland) Act 1854 in 1855,[7] the newly appointed town commissioners and magistrates used the courtroom for their board meetings and petty sessions respectively on alternating Saturdays.[8] It thereby started to serve as the local town hall as well as the courthouse.[9] The building was refurbished in 1890, when the cupola was replaced by a square clock tower with wide eaves and a shallow pyramid-shaped roof.[4] By the early 20th century, it was covered in neatly-clipped ivy.[10]
The building was badly burned in rioting on 8 June 1920 during the Irish War of Independence, but was fully restored in 1924.[11] The courtroom on the first floor was subsequently used as a community events venue hosting dances and other functions.[12][13] The Courts Service ceased using the building as a courthouse in 1985.[14]
Following completion of an extensive programme of refurbishment works, the building was re-opened by the chairman of Bord Fáilte, Martin Dully, as the Lismore Heritage Centre in May 1992.[15] The courtroom was refurbished to a design by Shaffey Architects and brought back into use as a district court in 2006, but the Courts Service announced in February 2022 that, after hearings had been relocated to Dungarvan, the courtroom would close again for judicial use.[16]
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