The building features a belfry of red brick and white limestone which is 72 metres (236 ft) high.

[1] An ancient Hôtel de Ville, located in Old Calais, was commissioned by King Francis II, as a place where merchants could meet, in 1559.

It was designed by Louis Debrouwer of Dunkirk in the Renaissance Revival and Flemish styles, built in red brick from Kortrijk, white limestone and reinforced concrete, and was completed in 1923.

[8] The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage facing west onto the Place du Soldat Inconnu.

This relates to the six leading citizens who were taken by Edward III of England after the Siege of Calais (1346–1347) during the Hundred Years' War.