[2] After rapid industrial growth in the local area,[3] civic leaders decided they needed a more substantial facility and the old town house was demolished, to make way for the current building.

[4] The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage with twelve bays facing onto Kirkgate; the southern section featured a doorway with an octagonal turret above in the south east corner, while the northern section featured an elaborate doorway with a balcony and prominent four-face clock tower with bartizans in the north east corner.

[1] The structure included heraldic stones, recovered from the demolished 18th century town house, which may have originated from the now derelict Dunfermline Palace, a few hundred yards to the south.

[5] The stonework on the Bridge Street façade included busts of Malcolm Canmore, Queen Margaret, Robert the Bruce and Elizabeth de Burgh.

[12] Works of art in the city chambers include Sir Joseph Paton's painting of Queen Margaret and Malcolm Canmore.