It was designed by Alexander Laing in the neoclassical style, built by John Symens and William MacDonald in ashlar stone at a cost of £1,497 and was completed in May 1791.

The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage, consisting of a courtroom block and a seven-stage tower, facing onto the High Street.

[5] In 1814, during clearances at Strathnaver, the factor to the Sutherland Estate, Patrick Sellar, was accused of culpable homicide and arson, after the mother-in-law of a tenant farmer had her cottage set alight, and she subsequently died.

After becoming dilapidated, the courthouse block was demolished in 1853, and was replaced by a row of shops, which were built adjoining the surviving tower.

[10] The lower levels of the tower were converted for retail use and are currently occupied by a business selling historical and heraldic gifts, known as "Hall of Names".