Gate City's most prominent building, the Scott County Courthouse dominates the commercial area of Jackson Street. Erected by a builder of courthouses in Grayson (GY7), Wythe, Montgomery, and Floyd counties, it is one of only two Toncray courthouses to survive. Like his other courthouses, the Scott County courthouse has a two-story, Flemish bond brick central block flanked by slightly receding two-story brick wings, each originally with an entrance and window on the first story and two windows on the second. The building is crowned by an octagonal bellcast-roofed cupola with arched louvered vents and a ball finial. Dating to the 1920s are the remodeled entrance and the two-story Corinthian portico with a Palladian window in its pediment. Entirely unsympathetic to the courthouse are later twentieth-century additions that include a two-story brick structure (1940s) to the left and a brick addition (1968) to the right. Remodeling of the courthouse's interior has left little original fabric untouched.