Facing the River Hooghly in the west and located near the St John's Church, at the junction of the Strand Road and the Hare Street, the majestic building of Metcalfe Hall looks almost like an ancient Greek temple and reflects the British imperial architecture during the mid-nineteenth century. Designed by CK Robinson, the then city magistrate and built by Martin & Co, the enormous building was dedicated to the memory of Sir Charles Theophilus Metcalfe, the Governor General of India during1835-1836. Despite his brief tenure, Charles Metcalfe earned the respect of the elite society of Bengal, especially the journalists, as he repealed all the prevailing restrictions imposed by the British rulers on Indian press. It was strongly felt by many that something should be done to mark his great contribution towards the freedom of Press in India as his name deserved to be remembered in the history of journalism in India.

However, the basic idea of constructing a hall for commemorating the memory of Metcalfe was originally conceived by Longueville Clarke, a distinguished Advocate of the old Supreme Court and it was at his initiative that the Agri-Horticultural Society and Calcutta Public Library joined hands with him for the erection of the Metcalfe Memorial.

Accordingly, a committee was formed in 1838 and a spacious plot of land was selected for the construction of the proposed hall, which was originally owned by Harinarayan Seth. Harinarayan, an aristocratic Bengali in those days, earned most of his fortune with the support of the East India Company and his residence was used as the 'Sailors' Home', a destitute seamen's asylum. Later, the Sailor’s Home shifted to the Ralli Brothers building, to provide space for the construction of a new building.

After the completion of the preliminary paper works, Dr James Grant, the Grand Master of Bengal laid the foundation stone of the massive building with Masonic rites on 19 December 1840, in the presence of Lord Auckland and his sisters, Emily and Fanny Eden. The construction of the building was completed in less than four years from that date and was opened to the public in June 1844.

It is said that the Temple of Winds of Athens inspired the design of the splendid Metcalfe Hall, though apparently there is no similarity between the two structures. As in the Greek temples, the Metcalfe Hall stands on a 10 feet high solid ornamental basement, with 30 huge 36 feet high Corinthian columns rising from it, supporting the massive entablature. The columns and colonnade surround almost the whole building.

There is a series of small Lion's heads arranged at equal intervals throughout the uppermost cornice of the Hall, which were meant for the outflow of water from the cornice or the roof. Originally, the main entrance was from the west, over a giant flight of stairs, which was subsequently closed.

At the initial stage, Metcalfe Hall accommodated the Calcutta Public Library, the first public library in Calcutta, managed by a private management committee with Prince Dwarkanath Tagore as its first proprietor. It is interesting to note that, Lord Metcalfe personally took personal interest about the library and arranged to shift 4,675 volumes to it from the library of the Fort William College. Subsequently, Lord Curzon merged it with the Imperial Library, which was formally opened to the public at Metcalfe Hall on 30 January 1903. Much later, the Imperial Library shifted to the Belvedere and opened to the public on the 1st day of February 1953, as the National Library.

The two-storey Metcalfe Hall is equipped with five halls and a wooden staircase leads to the first floor. The ground floor once served as the annex of the Asiatic Society, while a small museum of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) was accommodated on the upper floor. However, the museum was rather small and unimposing, which contained only some photographs of the conservation projects of ASI in the Eastern India.

The magnificent heritage building has been recently restored and saved by the Archaeological Society of India (ASI) from an inevitable sad disaster. While the initiative of restoration began on 18 January 2018, the actual conservation work began in April. The eastern portico was entirely damaged and had to be redone from scratch. The roof was in bad shape and water treatment was carried out to prevent seepage. Lime plastering was done meticulously in consonance with the original. Even the column capitals were damaged and had to be reconstructed using the original designs and the capitals were painted golden to retain the original look. The floors, made with cement, marble and wood were given their original form and the area around the centrally protected monument was developed with red stone and basalt over concrete layers, providing adequate slope, after thoroughly reviving the underground sewerage system. Apart from that and many more, both the west gate overlooking the Hooghly and leading to a majestic flight of stairs and the east gate were repaired and are now operational.

Today, The Metcalfe Hall houses an excellent museum, called ‘Ami Kolkata’ or I am Calcutta, which exhibits and depicts the history and culture of the city. Different scenes of the city, that evoke nostalgia or reflect contemporary times, have been exhibited through art installations, displays and audio presentations. In one room, a huge specially crafted dingi or a country boat, the kind that still plies along the River Hooghly, is displayed with an interactive touch screen panel that shows the history of the city, from the infamous Black Hole to the 1757 Durga Puja installation. There is another installation highlighting the accessories used during a Bengali wedding, including a giant replica of a topor, the headgear worn by the groom. The Museum reminds the visitors of the famous dancer and choreographer Uday Shankar, as well as the first Bengali cabaret dancer, Miss Shefali. The old booksellers of College Street, the Jewish synagogues, Chhat Puja, even a photograph of the Favourite Cabin in North Kolkata, found their places in the museum. Apart from the presence of Rabindranath and Satyajit Ray, the museum has a unique stairwell lined with quirky posters of old movie classics as well as vintage advertisements of different products, like Horlicks, Lily barley biscuits, Firpo’s machine-made bread and a 1962 production of a Tagore dance drama.