[1] In the mid-19th century the local vestry board met in a room on the south-west corner of the Church of St George in the East.

[3] The vestry hall, the western section of the current complex, was designed by Andrew Wilson in the Classical style and was completed in 1860.

[4] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with five bays facing onto Cable Street; there was a porch with Doric order columns and pilasters and a triglyphed frieze projecting from the central section and a row of windows interspersed with Ionic order columns on the first floor.

[7] The area in front of the town hall was the scene of the Battle of Cable Street on Sunday 4 October 1936 when a clash took place between the Metropolitan Police, sent to protect a march by members of the British Union of Fascists, led by Oswald Mosley, and various anti-fascist demonstrators.

[8][9][10] The building ceased to function as the local seat of government when the enlarged London Borough of Tower Hamlets was formed in 1965.