[1] The authors of the Buildings of England series refer to its "magnificent scale", and consider it to be "probably the grandest ...suite of civic rooms in the country", and "an outstanding and complete example of late Georgian decoration".

The ground floor contains the city's Council Chamber and a Hall of Remembrance for the Liverpool servicemen killed in the First World War.

The upper floor consists of a suite of lavishly decorated rooms which are used for a variety of events and functions.

This town hall stood on "pillars and arches of hewen stone" and under it was the exchange for merchants and traders to carry out their business.

[4] Building of the present town hall began in 1749 on a site slightly to the north of its predecessor; its foundation stone was laid on 14 September.

[4] The ground floor had a central courtyard surrounded by Doric colonnades but it was "dark and confined, and the merchants preferred to transact business in the street outside".

[7] The very last act of the American Civil War was when Captain Waddell walked up the steps of the town hall in November 1865 with a letter to present to the mayor surrendering his vessel, the CSS Shenandoah, to the British government.

[3] Between 1899 and 1900 the portico on the north face was rebuilt and extended,[9] and the northern extension was enlarged to form a recess in the Council Chamber for the Lord Mayor's chair, this was the work of the borough surveyor Thomas Shelmerdine.

[13] In 1921 a room on the ground floor was made into the Hall of Remembrance to commemorate the military men from Liverpool who died in the First World War.

This has three rounded arches on the ground floor, and four pairs of Corinthian columns in the upper storey surrounding a balcony.

[1] Above the upper storey windows on all faces are panels containing carvings, some of which relate to Liverpool's foreign trade.

On its wall are panels bearing the names of the military men who lost their lives in the First World War, and eight murals painted by Frank O. Salisbury in 1923.

[13][14] In the centre of the ground floor is the Staircase Hall described in the Buildings of England series as "one of the great architectural spaces of Liverpool".

[13] A broad staircase rises between two pairs of Corinthian columns to a half-landing, and narrower flights climb from that on each side to the upper floor.

On the half-landing is a statue of George Canning dated 1832 by Francis Chantrey, and hanging on the wall above this is a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II by Sir Edward Halliday.

Around the base of the dome is inscribed Liverpool's motto, "Deus Nobis Haec Otia Fecit", and in the pendentives are paintings dated 1902 by Charles Wellington Furse depicting scenes of dock labour.

[25] A door to the right leads to the West Reception Room, with a segmented-vaulted ceiling; it contains a marble chimneypiece with brass and cast iron fittings.

The plaster ceiling has moulded compartments and under these is a frieze decorated with scrolls, urns and crouching dogs.

In the south wall is a niche for musicians, over which is a coffered semi-dome; on each side of this is a white marble chimneypiece.

[27][28] Hanging from the ceiling are "three of the finest Georgian chandeliers in Europe";[28] each is 28 feet (9 m) high, contains 20,000 pieces of cut glass crystal, and weighs over one ton.

[31] The hall is licensed for weddings and, in addition to providing a venue for the ceremony, catering facilities can be supplied for a reception or a meal.

[34] Immediately to the north of the town hall is a paved square known as Exchange Flags; this is surrounded on all sides by modern office buildings.