[5] The new building was designed by John Bridgeford Pirie and Arthur Clyne in the Scottish baronial style, built in ashlar stone and completed in 1885.

[6][7] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with three bays facing onto Shore Street; the central bay, which slightly projected forward, featured a doorway with a fanlight on the ground floor, a sash window on the first floor and a Diocletian window with a blind oculus above at attic level.

[1] The central bay was flanked at attic level by bartizans with conical-shaped roofs and surmounted with a gable containing a carving of a knight on horseback.

[11] The town hall continued to function as an events venue and performers on tour in the 1990s included the celtic music band The Boys of the Lough.

[12] The town hall has also seen important political events: on 6 May 1999, in the first elections to the Scottish Parliament, Alex Salmond spent much of the night at the town hall with his wife, Moira, before being elected Member of the Scottish Parliament for Banff and Buchan.