Constructed during 1938 and 1939, the City Hall complex is located on Bagby Street on the western side of Downtown Houston.

It is surrounded by the Houston Skyline District and is similar in design to dozens of other city halls built in the southwest United States during the same time period.

The simply designed structure featured many construction details that have helped to make this building an architectural classic.

[3] In 1929, the city's planning commission urged the establishment of a civic center around a downtown park, Herman Square.

[6][7] On July 29, 2024, Houston-based U.S. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee would become the second person to lie in state in Houston City Hall.

[2] The exterior of the building features a sculpture by Herring Coe and Raoul Josset, and regional white, pock-market Texas limestone.

In the grillwork above the main entrances are medallions of "great lawgivers" from ancient times to the founding of America, including Thomas Jefferson, Charlemagne, Julius Caesar and Moses,[3] and an outdated city seal adorns the interior doorknobs.

[13] The front of the city hall building steps down to a small park, George and Martha Hermann Square, which is dominated by a reflecting pool.

In 1987, the city attorney's office stated in the Houston Chronicle that the police are not to arrest anyone sleeping in the park.