[1] The building, which was designed by George Woodhouse in the Greek revival style, was completed in 1841 and extended in 1880.

[1] It has a tetrastyle Ionic portico, copied from the temple of Ceres, on the River Ilisos, near Athens.

[2] A blue plaque on the exterior of the building commemorates Winston Churchill making his inaugural acceptance speech from the steps of the town hall when he was first elected as a Conservative MP in 1900.

[4] Queen Elizabeth II, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, visited Oldham and inspected a guard of honour outside the town hall in October 1954.

[9][10][11] After a fund-raising campaign supported by the locally-born actress, Maxine Peake, a bronze statue of the local suffragette, Annie Kenney, funded by public subscription, was unveiled outside the building in December 2018.