The building was built on the site of an earlier
tolbooth which incorporated cells for petty prisoners. The new building was designed by James Dempster of
Greenock in the
Gothic Revival style, built in
ashlar stone at a cost of £4,000 and was completed in 1835. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with seven bays facing onto Castle Street; the central bay, which slightly projected forward, took the form of a four-stage tower. while the town hall bell was manufactured by John C. Wilson of the Gorbals Brass and Bell Foundry in
Glasgow. The sections on either side of the tower were fenestrated with three-light
sash windows on the ground floor and three-light
mullioned windows on the second floor, while the outer bays contained lancet windows on the first floor. while hearings of the sheriff's court, the burgh court and the magistrates' court all took place in the courtroom. The building continued to serve as the headquarters of both Rothesay Burgh Council and Bute County Council until both bodies were replaced by
Argyll and Bute District Council in 1975. The new district council continued to use the building for the delivery of local services and it remained the venue for sheriff's court hearings. An extensive programme of refurbishment works, to a design by Collective Architecture, was completed in March 2011: the works, which cost £4.3 million, involved the re-modelling of the complex around a new courtyard to the rear of the main building and the conversion of the interior of the complex into 25 new apartments. The town hall bell was recovered during the conversion and put on display in a small garden at the junction of High Street and Montague Street in 2016. ==See also==