[3] The site they chose for the new building was on the north side of the High Street and it was named after a local landowner, Captain Marriott Chadwick Walker Aytoun of the Royal Artillery, who had led an initiative to build an aqueduct which had brought a water supply from Crook Moss Spring, some 3 miles (4.8 km) to the west of the town, some 40 years earlier.

[4][5] The building was designed by Charles Sandeman Robertson in the Gothic Revival style, built in ashlar stone at a cost of £2,000 and was completed in 1872.

It was surmounted by a modillioned cornice, a series of gablets containing clock faces, a pyramid-shaped spire and a flagpole.

[19] An extensive programme of refurbishment works, financed by the Scottish Government and Perth and Kinross Council and undertaken by Mansell Construction at a cost of £975,000, was initiated in July 2009.

[20][21] The programme of works, which were managed by the Auchterarder Leisure and Recreation Association, involved the installation of a new lift compatible with the requirements of the Equality Act 2010, the creation of a new room known as the Girnal Hall on the first floor, and the fitting out of a commercial kitchen.