The present building, completed in 1866 in Victorian Gothic Style, was designed by the architect E.W Godwin (1833-1886). He had achieved eminence as a result of his design for the sumptuous Guild Hall in Northampton which was completed in 1864. Congleton Town Hall has many similarities with this building and boasts a fine assembly hall with a hammer-beam roof and a gallery in the upper storey. The statues of Queen Victoria, Henry de Lacy and Edward I which were set over the frontage are now badly weathered and only Queen Victoria remains as the others were removed for safety reasons during renovations.
Two previous town halls had occupied the site, a half-timbered, black and white building which was demolished in 1805 and a neo-classical building that replaced it. The latter, which was fronted by a colonnade and piazza made up of four columns, housed a court-room, dungeons and a room for the confinement of debtors. A set of steps leading from the present council chamber to lower regions appears to have survived from these earlier incarnations and is now protected by hardened glass. Sir Edmund Antrobus, a major benefactor of the town whose name survives in Antrobus Street, paid for the addition of a market hall and an assembly room to the neo-classical building.
The modern town hall provides accommodation for both private and public events and details, together with pictures of the interior.
