The Old City Hall (Croatian: Stara gradska vijećnica) is a complex of three adjacent buildings located in the Gradec neighbourhood in Zagreb, Croatia.
[1] In 1832 local merchant Kristofor Stanković had won the main prize at the Vienna lottery and then decided to invest his winnings in building a city theatre.
[1] City authorities then added a second floor to Oršić's one-story house, torn down the original town hall and bought two land lots in today's Freudenreichova Street, which cleared enough space for the construction of a theatre, for which the cornerstone was laid on 12 August 1833.
[1] The Croatian language was first heard in the theatre during an intermezzo of a German production, when Ljudevit Gaj's reveille "Još Hrvatska ni propala" was performed, and the first play in Croatian, the Juran and Sofia or The Turks under Sisak: Heroic Play in Three Acts (Juran i Sofia ili Turci kod Siska: junačka igra u trih činih) by Ivan Kukuljević Sakcinski, was performed there on 10 June 1840.
[2] The plaque quotes Tesla's statement, given in the building on 24 May 1892, which reads: "As a son of this country, I consider it my duty to help the City of Zagreb in every way, either through counsel or through action" (Croatian: "Smatram svojom dužnošću da kao rođeni sin svoje zemlje pomognem gradu Zagrebu u svakom pogledu savjetom i činom").