The Town Hall marks the centre of Gotha´s central market square and divides it in the upper and lower markets. An important medieval trade route starting from the Brühl quarter runs directly past the market and follows the Marktstrasse and Erfurter Strasse streets.
	The foundation stone of this richly structured Renaissance building was laid in 1567. In place of the old municipal department store made of wood (pulled down in 1553) the master builders Caspar Mans, Christoph Götze and Nicolaus Rausche erected a solid new department store. The new building contains parts both of the previous one and of Grimmenstein Castle, which was destroyed in 1567.
	The construction work cost almost 25,000 Guilders, and work was completed in 1577. The indisputably oldest part of the building is the gilded copper relief of St. Gothardus from the 13th century, which used to be above the south portal until the beginning of the 20th century and can be seen in Friedenstein Castle today. It originally came from St. James Chapel (on the lower market), which was pulled down in 1567.
	The portal on the northern side is among the most beautiful of all German Renaissance portals. The portal and both spandrel reliefs are older and were added to the building in 1574. Numerous decorative elements and inscriptions accord the building a special appearance. Among these, a sculptured head with movable jaw is especially worthy of attention. According to popular belief, this represents the knight Wilhelm von Grumbach who was executed in 1567. From 1641 to 1646 Duke Ernest I (the Pious, 1601-1675) who was sovereign of the newly formed duchy of Saxe-Gotha, had his living quarters in the town hall.
	The duke ordered a lot of renovation in order to use the building for living purposes. During this time, the building was named "Fürstliches Residenz-Haus" (ducal residence) and, after the ducal family has moved out, it was given again the name `Kauff-Haus´ (department store). Today it is difficult to find out how long the building has been used as a town hall. It may have been since 1632 when a great fire inflicted heavy damage to the old town hall. During the fire of 1665, the department store was also reduced to ashes and was rebuilt during the following year. From this time, at the latest, it may well have served as a town hall. In the former great council meeting room we can still find a stone relief of Elector Johann Friedrich I. From the earliest times, city archives were established and kept in the vaulted cellar under the small council meeting room.
	Alongside the aforementioned facilities, the town hall contained the treasury, the tax office with the tax-collectors’ offices and the municipal scales. Until the 18th century the town hall has been a fully functioning centre of municipal administration. Since the 18th century the town hall has been unplastered and has had a square, rather than an octagonal top.
	The 19th century caused many problems for the council and the mayor, mainly due to the wars of 1866 and 1870/71. Mayor Carl Hünersdorf ordered the repaving of the central market square and of important streets as well as the construction of the waterworks on the upper market. Meanwhile the town hall still housed shops and the municipal scales on the ground floor. In order to install a larger meeting room, the partitions added in 1852 on the upper floor were removed. The new entrance hall on the northern side was designed as a spacious staircase. The facades were almost completely restructured containing new decorative elements, and great effort was made to accord due respect to the historical elements. The northern gable was now adorned with the stone sculpture of St. Gothardus.
	The 35-metre-high tower has been open to the public since 1997. From the platform, almost 23 metres high, you have a wonderful view of Gotha´s old city, Friedenstein Castle and the central market square decorated with a mosaic-like coat-of-arms in the pavement. To the northeast, you can see the tower of St. Margaret’s Church. The municipal forests of Gotha surround the town with a green belt. The town hall dating from the 16th century has survived much renovation and modification and is listed as a historical monument.
	During a large renovation from July 1994 to December 1997 the tower was repaired, and the striking mechanism and the copper-bell made fully functional again. When the roof was repaired, the town hall's clock also found a new place. The interior was completely repartitioned and refurbished. The addition of a lift offers wheelchair users access to all parts of the building.