The Old Town Hall is one of the architectural highlights of Hanover's Old town - Together with the Marktkirche right next door, it is considered the most southernly renowned piece of North German brick Gothic.
The Old Town Hall was built for almost a hundred long years. The oldest part on Schmiedestraße dates back to 1420, and a little later the market wing was built on the foundation walls of a 13th century store hall. This was followed on Köbelinger Straße by the so-called pharmacy wing, which housed the council pharmacy. This wing was replaced by a building in the Italian Romanesque style.
The jewel of the old town was almost lost forever, for in 1844 the entire town hall was to be demolished. Thanks to the energetic protests of a citizens' initiative led by the renowned architect Conrad Wilhelm Hase, however, this catastrophe was prevented. The neo-Gothic architect Hase was finally allowed to renovate the two remaining wings and restored them to their stylistically pure state from around 1500.
Special treasures are the magnificent Gothic fial gables and the clay frieze above the outer right arched window on Schmiedestraße. In addition to portraits of princes and coats of arms, it also shows a depiction of "Luderziehen" - a medieval folk game comparable to the finger-wagging common in southern Germany.
