Location : Diponegoro Street No. 45, Timuran, Banjarsari, Surakarta, Central Java
Designation Decree : SK Walikota Surakarta No. 432.2/310 Tahun 2019

SMP Negeri 5 Surakarta occupies a building that was originally used as a school named Hollands Inlandsche School (HIS SISWO). The school was established between 1896 and 1916 by Mangkunegara VI, and later developed further by Mangkunegara VII. It was intended as a Dutch-style school for both Dutch and native Indonesian students. The curriculum was in Dutch, but students were also taught Javanese culture.

During the early years of the Indonesian National Revolution (1945–1949), when Indonesia was fighting to defend its independence, a group of students from Gadjah Mada University (UGM) in Surakarta took the initiative to educate the nation by establishing a junior high school (SMP) on December 1, 1945, located in Kauman, Surakarta.
In 1948, due to Military Aggression II (Class II conflict), the school was temporarily closed because many of its teachers, who were university students, joined the fight for independence. That same year, the students from Kauman, along with student soldiers (Tentara Pelajar), were temporarily moved to an emergency school (SMP Darurat) in Purwodiningratan. However, this only lasted a short time before moving again to Al-Irsyad School.

In 1949, the school moved from Al-Irsyad to the SMEA building in Loji Wetan, and a few months later relocated again to SMP Federal. The Federal School combined students from various schools, including Kauman, and had a special class for student fighters (Tentara Pelajar). The teachers, who were also university students, were often called to the battlefield, earning the school the name “School of the Struggle”. 

On February 17, 1950, the school moved again to Sinkokan, located south of Benteng Vastenburg. But in 1952, the Sinkokan building was requested back by the authorities to meet the needs of the Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI). As a result, the schools that had been using the building had to vacate. SMP Negeri 5 Surakarta was then relocated to a school building located in front of Mangkunegaran Palace, where it still stands today.