It was built in 1870 and dedicated the following year, and has served as the main location for the city's offices since then.

Built to a design by Bryant and Rogers, it is a two-story Second Empire brick building.

Each of the rectangular building's four corners is topped by its own pyramidal roof structure, above which is a small rectangular cupola with its own roof.

Centered on the front elevation is a clock tower that is brick in its lower levels, and decorated wood above, ending in a copper dome.

This article about a National Register of Historic Places listing in Essex County, Massachusetts, is a stub.