The hall is named after the German shipowning company F. Laeisz, founder of the concert venue.

The Baroque Revival Laeiszhalle was planned by the architect Martin Haller and inaugurated at its location on the Hamburg Wallring on 4 June 1908.

Composers such as Richard Strauss, Sergei Prokofiev, Igor Stravinsky and Paul Hindemith played and conducted their works in the Laeiszhalle.

Following World War II, which it survived intact, the Laeiszhalle experienced an intermezzo when the British occupying forces used the space temporarily as a broadcast studio for their radio station BFN.

In the 1960s the musical repertoire was also expanded to jazz and pop music, with performances by Pink Floyd, Kraftwerk, Grateful Dead, Lale Andersen, Bee Gees, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Udo Jürgens and Elton John.