[4] The town hall became the regular venue for the draw to determine qualifying teams for the annual Henley Royal Regatta when the event first took place in summer 1839.

[6] In the late 19th century, after the previous town hall was deemed too small, civic leaders decided to demolish it and build a fourth structure on the same site as the third one, as a lasting memorial to Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee.

[2] The new building was designed by Henry Hare in the Baroque style, built in red brick with stone dressings by Messrs. McCarthy E. Fitt of Reading at a cost of £5,895 and was officially opened by the local member of parliament, Robert Hermon-Hodge, on 13 March 1901.

[7][8] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage facing east onto the Market Square; the central section, which slightly projected forward, featured a short flight of steps leading up to a doorway with an arched stone surround.

There was a Venetian window on the first floor flanked by two pairs of Ionic order pilasters supporting an architrave and a large pediment with a carved coat of arms in the tympanum.