[5] The new building was designed by a local architect, Fred Rennoldson, in the Baroque style, built in red brick with terracotta facings at a cost of £12,000 and was officially opened by Sir Charles Palmer on 15 June 1904.

[5] The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage with five bays facing onto Grange Road with a turret, which slightly projected forward, in the south east corner; the fourth bay from the left contained an arched doorway flanked by pilasters supporting a moulded surround; there was a three-light mullioned window on the first floor flanked by pilasters supporting an open pediment containing the borough coat of arms; above that there was a tower with an octagonal cupola.

[1] Internally, the principal rooms were the courtroom, which was used for county court hearings and was accessed from the Wylam Street entrance,[5] and the council chamber.

[11] A plaque in the Town Hall commemorates the 'Surrey Fund' set up by Sir John Jarvis in the 1930s, as well as the 1951 Festival of Britain, in connection with the installation of the clock.

[5] A statue of Sir Charles Palmer, which had been designed by Albert Toft and originally unveiled by Lady Gertrude Palmer at Jarrow Riverside Park in 1903,[15] was removed from the park, as part of works intended to facilitate the construction of the Second Tyne Tunnel, in April 2007; it was then refurbished and re-erected in a position facing the town hall in June 2007.