The building was financed by public subscription with most of the funding coming from the wealthy inhabitants of the burgh including Cayzer, who personally contributed £500.

The site chosen on Shore Road was made available at a subsidised feu by the landowner, George Campbell, 8th Duke of Argyll, whose seat was at Inveraray Castle.

[4] The building was designed by James Chalmers of Glasgow in the Scottish Renaissance style, built in rubble masonry with red sandstone dressings at a cost of £2,300 and was officially opened by the then-provost, Peter Donaldson, on 10 May 1893.

The first bay on the left was formed by a single-storey gabled block; the second bay, which projected forward, was formed by a two-storey gabled block with three segmental windows on the ground floor flanked by brackets supporting a balustraded balcony, and a tri-partite mullioned and transomed window surmounted by an open pediment on the second floor; the third bay was formed by a three-stage circular tower, which featured a tall dormer window in the third stage and was surmounted by a conical roof; the fourth bay was formed by a two-storey gabled block with a wide arched entrance, which was encircled by ornate voussoirs and surmounted by a carved coat of arms, on the ground floor, with a sash window surrounded by an architrave on the first floor.

In response, a former director of Clugston Group, Peter Holland, led an initiative to acquire the building for a nominal sum and to refurbish it.