Planning for the capitol, which was to replace the old Casa Provincial in the city's Spanish quarter, actually started in 1910, in the day of the inauguration of Osmeña Waterworks.

The main block or corps de logis, three stories high, is flanked by two secondary wings, symmetrically advancing to embrace a rectangular, elevated cour d'honneur that serves as an entrance podium.

The elevation of the corps de logis is of typical neoclassical formula: a rusticated ground floor, containing minor rooms and offices, the piano nobile above, with the most important spaces, and finally the attic story.

The most distinctive part of the façade is the central concave pavilion, which creates the semi-circular main balcony and pulls together the entire mass, finally crowned by an austere dome upon an octagonal drum.

The first space, the art deco rotunda below the cupola, opens to the south the main balcony that faces Osmeña Boulevard, and to its north the ballroom (social hall).