[4] The building was designed Arthur and Christopher Harston in the Palazzo style[5] and built by J. H. Johnson[2] and was opened as the vestry hall of the Limehouse District on 29 March 1881.

[4] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with five bays facing onto Commercial Road; the central section featured a portico flanked by Corinthian order columns and a balcony above; there were round headed windows on the first floor and a carved pediment above.

[4] After the civil parish became a part of the Metropolitan Borough of Stepney in 1900,[6] the town hall ceased to be the seat of local government and was used as an events venue and administrative centre.

[7] On 30 July 1909 the Chancellor of the Exchequer David Lloyd George made a polemical speech in the assembly room, attacking the House of Lords for its opposition to his "People's Budget".

[5] Responsibility for management of the building was transferred to the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in 1965 and it was re-opened as the National Museum of Labour History by the Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, in May 1975.