This is the third and only surviving court house erected for the former Niagara District. Constructed between 1846 and 1848, it was designed by the prominent Toronto architect, William Thomas, in the fashionable Neoclassical style favoured for 19th century public buildings. It is an excellent example of a mid-19th century multipurpose civic structure. Though the courts were moved to nearby St. Catharines in 1862, this building has continued to play an important role in the life of this historic community, at one time as the town hall and latterly as the founding home of the Shaw Festival.