UCL BLOOMSBURY PROJECT

History

It was opened in 1882 as a hall of residence for women students at University College and the London School of Medicine for Women, following a campaign by Annie Browne and Mary Kilgour to open such a hostel (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry for Annie Browne)

The first meeting for the Hall was held at UCL on 4 April 1882, when its establishment was supported by Henry Morley; having just accepted the Principalship of University Hall, as an experiment in making residence a feature of life at University College, he hoped that a similar experiment for its women students would also be successful (College Hall minutes, 4 April 1882, CH 1/1/1, Senate House Special Collections)

While College Hall was still in search of a home and considering taking over the lease of Russell House, in 1882, this was itself home to a student hall of residence under the same name, Russell House; the Committee of College Hall wrote to the lessee, Lady Wentworth, to request that it ceased to include the title “Hall of Residence” in its future advertisements (College Hall minutes, 22 May 1882, CH 1/1/1, Senate House Special Collections)

This seems to have prompted her tenant, the Principal of Russell House, Elizabeth Cail, to say that she would take over the lease of the house herself, and College Hall found itself once again without even temporary premises (College Hall minutes, 3 July 1882, CH 1/1/1, Senate House Special Collections)

Its first Principal was Miss [Eleanor] Groves, who offered to take the post without a salary, assisted by Miss [Rosa] Morison, who would also live in the Hall (College Hall minutes, 19 June 1882, CH 1/1/1, Senate House Special Collections)

Its advertisements in The Times said that it would open on 2 October 1882 and house 10 women, each with her own room, at a cost for board and lodging of 57 to 75 guineas per session (33 weeks); this was intended as a temporary arrangement while funds were raised for the erection of a larger, purpose-built hall (The Times, 30 August 1882)

A letter from the Committee, published in The Times early the following year, made explicit the comparison with the nearby University Hall: “...providing women students of University College, London, with a College Hall of Residence that shall be to them what University Hall is to men” (The Times, 6 January 1883)

While the Committee members were clear from the beginning that the Hall should be in Bloomsbury, they were equally clear that it was primarily for students at UCL and its associated institutions; a formal connection with Bedford College was firmly rejected in 1882, although their students were still free to apply to the Hall along with members of other local institutions (College Hall minutes, 13 September 1882, CH 1/1/1, Senate House Special Collections)

By early 1883 there were nine students in residence, five of whom were at the Slade, two at UCL, one at the London School of Medicine for Women, and one who was a pharmaceutical student; the Hall was already thinking about the possibility of expanding into no. 2 Byng Place (College Hall minutes, 15 January 1883, CH 1/1/1, Senate House Special Collections)

Negotiations for no. 2 Byng Place were authorised at a special meeting in March 1883 (College Hall minutes, 16 March 1883, CH 1/1/1, Senate House Special Collections), and this extension, which could house 13 more students, opened at the beginning of the 1883–1884 session (The Times, 22 February 1884)

The London School of Medicine for Women had more and more students in residence at the Hall; they were disadvantaged in 1883 when the Hall changed to a system of residence by term, as their terms were longer than those of the other institutions, but special negotiations and their own sliding scale of fees were brought in to allow them to continue to use the Hall (College Hall minutes, 26 February 1883, 12 March 1883, CH 1/1/1, Senate House Special Collections)

The seventeen students in residence in early 1884 included two undergraduates studying for their BAs at UCL, an overseas student of English Literature at UCL, students at the Slade School, a student preparing for the exam of the Pharmaceutical Society and two preparing for the matriculation exam of the University of London, as well as four undergraduates studying for their MBs at the London School of Medicine for Women (The Times, 22 February 1884)

It continued to have a shaky relationship with the Bedford estate, whose land encompassed much of the surrounding area; permission for the students to use the gardens of Gordon Square (with payment of a subscription) was refused in 1883 on the grounds that Byng Place was outside the Square, and having originally agreed to allow the Hall to use land in Tavistock Place for tennis, the Estate steward changed his mind and rescinded this offer (College Hall minutes, 4 June 1883, 2 July 1883, CH 1/1/2, Senate House Special Collections)

Eventually the students were allowed to use Endsleigh Gardens for their tennis (College Hall minutes, 8 June 1885, CH 1/1/2, Senate House Special Collections)

It originally apparently lacked an official name; it advertised itself under the title of “The College Hall of Residence for Women Students in London” (The Times, 15 November 1883); it was known as College Hall from 1886

There were 27 students in residence by 1887 (College Hall minutes, 10 October 1887, CH 1/1/3, Senate House Special Collections)

One who had applied for admission in April 1887 was Maud Brock, then preparing for the exam of the College of Preceptors (College Hall minutes, 25 April 1887, CH 1/1/3, Senate House Special Collections)

A meeting of 29 June 1888 called for funds raised for its rent to be endowed, in recognition of the importance of this kind of institution and the need it met (The Times, 30 June 1888)

It was taken over by the University of London in 1910 as an official student hostel

It continues to provide accommodation for students (male and female) of the colleges and institutes of the University of London

It was renovated in 2007