The City Hall and the Double Barrel Cannon are located on the west side of College Avenue between Hancock Avenue and Washington Street (Tax Parcel No. 17-1-B1-H-002).
 

This yellow brick building of the Beaux Arts style rises two stories above a raised granite-block basement. Three one-story entrance porticos, articulated by second level balconies with urn-topped balustrades, provide entrance to the rectangular structure. Twin Ionic pilasters rise from each side of the balconies to support pedimented gables that extend above the main line of the flat roof. Rusticated surface treatment is utilized beneath the string course, which encircles the building at the height of the round-arched windows' imposts. A wide entablature, dentils, modillions, and a roofline balustrade embellish the building. The classically arrayed central cupola displays a copper-clad dome, clocks on all four sides, and a crowning lantern with an eagle weathervane. The Double Barrel Cannon, resting on a new carriage, occupies the northeast corner of the City Hall lot.

In 1847 Athens's first town hall was built in the middle of Market Street (now Washington Street). When the Clarke County seat moved from Watkinsville to Athens in 1872, the town hall also served for a time as a courthouse. In 1893 the city purchased Herrington House on the site of the present City Hall. Attorney S. M. Herrington, who ran his law practice from a small building adjacent to the residence, was the son-in-law of Colonel John I. Huggins, who had acquired the house in the mid-1850s from noted lawyer and judge Charles Dougherty. Augusta architect L. F. Goodrich won the competition for the design of City Hall, and Athens city engineer J. W. Barnett completed its construction in 1904. The Double Barrel Cannon was designed by John Gilleland and cast in 1862 at the Athens Foundry and Iron Works. Although never successfully utilized in battle during the Civil War, the cannon was tested in Augusta by the War Department and used in Athens as a warning signal of approaching Union troops. Although lost for a few years and rediscovered by a junk dealer, the cannon was placed on College Avenue next to the Confederate monument until relocated at its present position. On the City Hall grounds, a 1985 grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation enabled the development of Athens Transit Mall, which widened walkways and bus stops and inserted amenities such as turn-of the century lampposts, recessed bus shelters, and greenspace on the City Hall lot.

The City Hall and the Double Barrel Cannon are locally designated as Historic Landmarks (February 2, 1988), and the Double Barrel Cannon has received recognition from the Georgia Historical Marker Program (029-05).