It is made from 1.3 million red bricks and bordered by Gregory Terrace and the Exhibition Grounds.

It was built in 1891 for the Queensland National Agricultural and Industrial Association after Brisbane's first exhibition building, which had occupied the land, was destroyed by fire on 13 June 1888.

Sir Arthur Hunter Palmer, acting Governor of Queensland, was given the honour of laying the foundation stone.

The Queensland Government took over control of the building and grounds when the National Association was forced into liquidation by the economic depression in 1897.

[7] In 2009 as part of the Q150 celebrations, the Old Museum Building was announced as one of the Q150 Icons of Queensland for its role as a "structure and engineering feat".