The courthouse, which was designed by
John Keane and
Henry Whitestone in the
neoclassical style and built in
ashlar stone, was completed in 1852. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage facing the junction of Gort Road and New Road; there was a flight of steps leading up to a large
hexastyle portico with
Ionic order columns supporting an
entablature and a
modillioned
pediment. The building was originally used as a facility for dispensing justice but, following the implementation of the
Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898, which established county councils in every county, it also became the meeting place for
Clare County Council. A monument to
Éamon de Valera, former President of Ireland, was designed by the sculptor Jim Connolly and erected outside the courthouse in 1981. The county council moved to the
Áras Contae an Chláir in New Road in May 2008. ==References==