The building, located at 289 King Street, was designed by noted theatre architect Henry Eli White and the foundation stone was laid by the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Dudley de Chair, on 20 April 1928.

[2] Architectural features include a clock tower, porte cochere, balustrades and stairs, all built with Sydney sandstone.

The clock tower is an imposing landmark and distinctive feature of the city sky line, indicating the Civic Centre of Newcastle.

The tower is a reinforced concrete and steel framed structure clad in Sydney yellowblock sandstone ashlar with rusticated quoins.

In 1874 these two functions were brought together under one roof, in the convict built former Commissioner Store in Watt Street, which had served as Post Office until 1872.

[7][1] In January 1920 a referendum of rate payers was held to gauge community support for raising a loan to purchase a suitable site for the construction of a Town Hall.

After the decision to purchase land bound by Hunter, Darby, King and Burwood Streets for a Town Hall based on Menkens' design, yet another attempt was abandoned due to the cost of resumption and compensation of existing businesses.

In February 1925 Light began the final, successful scheme to build a Town Hall for Newcastle, recognising that the city had long ago outgrown the existing Council Chambers.

Although his main focus was on theatres White had also designed a variety of other prominent commercial and industrial buildings including the Bunnerong Power House, a contract won in 1925.

In August 1925 White submitted the Town Hall plans which were placed on public display in the Hunter Street window of Scott's Store.

A majority were in support of the proposal to include the theatre in the design and a successful application under the Local Government Act to raise two hundred thousand pounds led to the resumption of land.

[10][1] The design of the town hall and theatre/shops complex was let as a single contract but separate tenders were called for the construction of the two buildings.

Among the firm's larger contracts were the AMP block, remodelling of the council's market street buildings, the Commercial Bank, and several hotels including the Crown and Anchor.

[11][1] In July 1927, the Council resumed just over 2 acres of land for the civic complex, including a site owned by John Brown.

Within three weeks the decision had been made and the building was to be faced with 30,000 super feet of stone from Waverley in Sydney, increasing the cost of the project by 26,480 pounds.

Given the history of community consultation on significant issues relating to the Town Hall proposal, it can only be assumed that Council did not invite further delay of the project at this stage.

Existing overhead high tension mains in the vicinity of the site were put underground to allow an unimpeded view of the Town Hall, and a substation constructed to the west of the building.

The foundation stone was laid on 20 April 1928, by the Governor Sir Dudley de Chair, who travelled by train to Newcastle.

He described the people of Newcastle as industrious and enterprising and declared the Town Hall "one of the noblest structures of the kind which has been erected in the State".

[15][1] Although the council had agreed that the Town Clerk be responsible for the interior design, it was later decided that the professional advice should be sought.

[15][1] On 14 December 1929, the Governor Sir Dudley de Chair returned to Newcastle to open the town hall.

[1] The City Hall itself was to remain the focus of civic life, and after half a century of only minor maintenance work, needed a thorough going over.

Local architects Suters and Busteed and local builder R W Black were engaged to carry out refurbishment works aiming to incorporate new services, such as air conditioning, and converting previous office space into public spaces, at the same time as maintaining and enhancing the dignity of the original design.

After 2001 major stonework conservation was undertaken[23][1] The City Hall continues to house Council Chambers, as well as hosting civic receptions, community gatherings, weddings, national and international conferences, trade shows, seminars, corporate meetings, product launches and social functions.

Like the similar Brisbane Town Hall, its design follows the precedent established in the nineteenth century, where the strong vertical mass of a central tower emerges from a relatively low base over three storeys.

The building features imposing symmetrical pavilions with coupled Roman Doric and Ionic orders on the three main facades, which are designed to be seen "in-the-round".

On the southern, King Street, facade a Porte Cochere is supported by sandstone Roman Doric style columns, the balustrade above the entablature has circular turned balusters.

[1] The clock tower is an imposing landmark and distinctive feature of the city sky line, indicating the Civic Centre of Newcastle.

The tower is a reinforced concrete and steel framed structure clad in Sydney yellowblock sandstone ashlar with rusticated quoins.

[1] This Wikipedia article contains material from Newcastle City Hall and Civic Theatre, entry number 01883 in the New South Wales State Heritage Register published by the State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) 2018 under CC-BY 4.0 licence, accessed on 2 June 2018.