[1] The original town hall in Hackney was a private house, erected in Mare Street in 1802, which had been converted into a simple vestry office for the Parish of St John in the mid 19th century.

[2][3][4] When the first civic facility became too small, it was replaced by a building further south on Mare Street, designed by Harnmack and Lambert in the Italianate style, which was completed in 1866.

[7] It was designed by Lanchester and Lodge in the Art Deco style and officially opened by the Chairman of London County Council, Lord Snell, on 3 July 1937.

[8] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with thirteen bays facing onto Mare Street; the central section of five bays featured a doorway flanked by windows on either side on the ground floor; there were five round headed widows leading onto a balcony on the first floor with a clock and the borough coat of arms above.

[11][12][13] Extinction Rebellion held a series of protests in East London followed by a people's assembly outside the town hall in July 2019.