The town hall, which was the headquarters of Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council, is a Grade II* listed building.

[2] It was designed by Edwin Arthur Johnson in the Renaissance style, built in red Cattybrook brick with orange terracotta dressings by Harry Gibbon and completed in 1898.

[1] The election of the future leader of the Labour Party, Keir Hardie, as member of parliament for Merthyr Tydfil was announced from the steps of the town hall In September 1900.

[12] The Prince of Wales reviewed the works in February 2014 and the building was officially re-opened as an arts and creative industries centre known as the Red House by the actor, Richard Harrington, on 1 March 2014.

[13] The area in front of the town hall, which had been the scene of the Merthyr Rising in 1831,[14] was remodelled as a new public space known as Penderyn Square and re-opened by the Minister for Finance, Jane Hutt, on 20 September 2014.