Kolkata Town Hall in Roman Doric style, was built in 1813 by the architect and engineer Major General John Henry Garstin (1756–1820) with a fund of 700,000 Rupees raised from a lottery to provide the Europeans with a place for social gatherings.

The public could visit the ground floor hall to see statues and large size portrait paintings but they were not allowed indiscriminate access to the upper storey.

In the 1870s, at the time of Chief Justice Richard Couch, when the present building of the High Court was being built, the Town Hall was temporarily used for judicial purposes.

In 1871, one of the puisne judges, Sir John Paxton Norman was assassinated by a fanatic Muslim of the Wahabi sect, while coming down the steps of the Town Hall.

In 1998, by timely intervention of the ASI and the Calcutta High Court, this heritage building was saved from further damage and destruction – and was later renovated to its former glory, and is now used for public gatherings and functions.

Divided in 19 enclaves and covering an area of 1200 sq mt, the exhibit depicts the story of Kolkata, its social and political history, tumultuous freedom movement, its creative efforts in the domains of education, literature, music, performing art, science, and technology.

The communication technology involves animated walk-through dioramas where visitors walk through the streets of early Kolkata or witnesses the high drama of the Battle of Plassey right at the centre of the battlefield.

Visitors can listen to old popular music of the bygone days through audio isolators avoiding interference with others or choose to view selected clippings of the films of people like Pramathesh Barua, Debaki Bose, Madhu Bose, Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Ritwik Ghatak and others.

The town hall was featured on the sixth leg of The Amazing Race 18, when the teams had to compete in a tea-drinking "Roadblock".