Designed by Darling and Pearson and completed in 1907, its radially planned interior has been compared to the grand amphitheatre of the Sorbonne and the Sheldonian Theatre at Oxford, although no specific precedent is truly known.

[1] While the building's namesake purpose is to host the annual convocation ceremonies, it also serves as the venue for academic and social functions that involve large audiences throughout the year.

[3] The construction of Convocation Hall was mainly financed by $50,000 raised by the University of Toronto Alumni Association and matching funds provided by Ontario government.

In 2007, former Vice President of the United States Al Gore delivered a public lecture on climate change at Convocation Hall and presented his documentary film, An Inconvenient Truth.

The purpose of the radial form was to make Convocation Hall both the metaphorical and physical centre of the expanding University and to anchor a newly rationalized campus layout.

[6] Convocation Hall's circular mass is emphasized by its shallow copper-clad dome and its curved entablature, supported by two-storey unfluted Ionic order porticos.