[5][6] The design originally involved a symmetrical main frontage with four bays facing onto Albert Place; the central section of two bays, which slightly projected forward, featured two segmental sash windows on the ground floor, a tall two-light window with tracery on the first floor and a stepped gable above.

[1] The building was extended to a design by Sir Robert Lorimer at a cost of £23,000 on the site of a former mill house between 1924 and 1927:[8] the extension involved seven extra bays along Albert Place to the southeast with the second of the new bays, which slightly projected forward, featuring an architraved doorway on the ground floor, a tall window on the first floor and a stepped gable above.

[1] The extension, which also involved an extra ten bays along Paton Street, featured a prominent five stage tower at the northwest corner of the complex.

[15][16] In order to accommodate the extra workforce associated with the expanding responsibilities of the council, a modern five bay extension to the Paton Street elevation, undertaken to a design by Aitken and Turnbull, was erected in 1976.

[1] The building ceased to be the local seat of government when the new unitary authority, the Scottish Borders Council, was formed at Newtown St Boswells in 1996.