[1] The original building on the site was a house known as Virginia Mansion which was commissioned by the Glasgow tobacco merchant, George Buchanan of Mount Vernon, and was completed in 1752.

[2] It was acquired by Alexander Spiers of Elderslie in 1770 and then, after passing through the hands of several other wealthy merchants, it was bought and remodelled to serve as the headquarters of the Glasgow and Ship Bank, which had previously been based in Virginia Street.

[6] The re-fronting involved the construction of a central porch with a heavy brackets supporting an entablature and an open segmental pediment containing a coat of arms; it also involved a row of segmental windows on the ground floor, a Doric order pilastrade enclosing deeply recessed casement windows on the first floor and a Corinthian order colonnade enclosing a series of round headed windows on the second floor.

The windows on the second floor contained fine carvings in the tympana and were flanked by figures sculptured by John Mossman.

The former bullion store was converted into a courtroom which was used to create additional capacity for sheriff court hearings.