In the 1930s, a tender was called for the construction of a building to house the then executive and legislative bodies of Montevideo, the Board of Directors, and the Representative Assembly, although with the constitutional reforms these original institutions would be modified.

[1] The City Hall esplanade constitutes a busy meeting place, and is where relevant events such as the matches of the Uruguayan national football team are broadcast on a big screen located in the building opposite.

The side wings, the underground concourse, and the garage were built later, giving the building its current appearance.

The atrium of the building hosts exhibitions of art, craft, and varied cultural expressions, while on the right side there is a copy of the statue of Nike of Samothrace.

[citation needed] In the late 1980s the hall hosted a retrospective of the work of the ceramicist Eva Díaz Torres.