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Governor George Grey visited the Otago settlement in 1850 and was asked to grant a municipal charter to govern the area. As a result the Otago Provincial Council was constituted in 1853.

Just over a year later, the Provincial Council constituted a Board of Commissioners, consisting of 6 members of the Provincial Council and 6 elected members. The commission functioned until the Dunedin Town Board was created in 1855. The first meeting was held in the Mechanics Institute building, which is situated approximately on the site of the Cargill memorial in the Exchange. By 1861 the town's population had grown to 5,850. The Town Board offices were subsequently moved to a wooden building nearby.

The 1st reference to the City of Dunedin appeared in an Ordinance in May 1862, even though the Town Board was still in office. Soon after, the Town Board was abolished, and the City Council was formed.

The new City Council met for the first time in August 1865 in the Town Board offices in Princes Street. Expansion forced the later move to premises in Princes Street, between Moray Place and the Octagon. Growth attributable to the gold rush instigated the next move in 1867 to part of the Exchange building where the Council was housed until 1871.

The Council was on the move again to new premises at the corner of Manse and High Streets, which were to be its home until 1880. It was not long however, before the matter of new office accommodation was debated again.

The Council was obviously caught up in the pressures of a rapidly expanding community and the issue of adequate accommodation was not disappearing.