Dresden's oldest town hall was first mentioned in a document in 1380 and was located on the north side of the Altmarkt. In 1707 it had to make way for the elector's fairground and was demolished. In the meantime, several other buildings were converted into town halls. In 1741, a new town hall was built on the west side of the Altmarkt. This representative predecessor building was heavily destroyed in 1945 and therefore completely demolished in 1949. The gigantic, asymmetrical building of today's town hall does not stand on the market square, as is usually the case, but somewhat off to the side on Dr.-Külz-Ring.

The mighty 98-metre high town hall tower, on which the gilded town hall man stands, protrudes from the five-storey building. The figure embodies Hercules as the patron saint and was created by Richard Guhr between 1908 and 1910.