The Clarke County Courthouse is located on the corner of Washington and Jackson streets (Tax Parcel No. 17-1-B1-F-002).
 

This five-story yellow brick building is a hybrid of the Neoclassical and Beaux Arts styles. The lowest story is an English basement, exposed on the north elevation due to the slope of the land. The symmetrical plan forms a front-facing U with a full-height portico in the central bay of the facade. Classical detailing includes heroic Ionic columns, a false cornice with dentil molding and modillions, side bay pilasters, and a parapet designed to resemble a balustrade with a large cartouche. Above this cornice are windows, originally barred when this level housed the county jail. A beltcourse delineates the first story, and pilasters and concrete bulkheads define a vertical band on the two end bays. Within the vertical band, windows appear in threes, with a large window flanked by single smaller windows. The interior features skylights and a massive central stairwell. A curved section denotes the transition between the original building and the large, yet compatible, Post-Modern addition.

In 1873, the year after the county seat moved from Watkinsville to Athens, Clarke County purchased the original courthouse square on Prince Avenue. The extant courthouse was constructed in downtown Athens in 1913. The Atlanta architect Anthony (Tony) Ten Eyck Brown designed this building, among several notable structures such as the Georgian Hotel next to the courthouse, the Fulton County Courthouse, and the Forsyth Building in Atlanta. Born in Albany New York in 1878, Brown received training at the Academy of Design in New York City. Charles Morton Strahan was the consulting engineer, and the Little-Cleckler Construction Company of Anniston, Alabama was the contracting firm. In 1985 voters passed a sales-tax referendum to fund renovation of the building and construction of a five-story annex. Jenkins-Peer Architects of Charlotte, North Carolina designed this addition, which is connected to the main building by an atrium and abutted by a three-level parking deck.

The Clarke County Courthouse is locally designated as a Historic Landmark (January 8, 1991) and acknowledged by the Georgia Historical Marker Program (029-04).