[7] In the 1860s, the Commissioners of Supply decided that Wick needed a dedicated courthouse: the site they selected was just to the north of the town hall.

The new building was designed by David Rhind in the Renaissance Revival style, built in ashlar stone and was officially opened on 16 May 1866.

The central bay featured a round headed doorway with a keystone and an architrave flanked by pairs of Doric order pilasters supporting an entablature and a cornice.

The outer bays on the ground floor were fenestrated by round headed sash windows with keystones and architraves while all three bays on the first floor were fenestrated by bi-partite round headed windows with balustrades, colonnettes and rosettes in the spandrels.

At attic level, there was a central tower with a window and a mansard roof flanked by aediculae and, beyond that, by piers surmounted by ball finials.