It is located in the south end of the Bardeen Quadrangle on Green Street in Urbana, Illinois, facing the Illini Union.

In early 1893, at the request of Professor Nathan Ricker, the UIUC Board of Trustees asked the State of Illinois for $160,000 to construct a building for its College of Engineering.

However, they accepted designs only from the university's graduate architecture students at the request of its alumni.

Bullard was from Tacoma, Washington and was a student of UIUC architect and professor Nathan Ricker, the designer of Altgeld Hall.

In fact, it was the completion of Engineering Hall that led to the adoption of orange and navy blue as the school colors.

The deans and academic advisors are located here to answer questions and provide any other information about Engineering at Illinois.

The College of Engineering Store, which sells apparel, gifts, and other merchandise, is located just outside in the hallway.

The office of International Programs of Engineering (IPENG) is located on the east wing.

The second floor is only open to students during regular hours on the weekdays, unless for some special occasions.

The fourth floor houses two computer labs, known as Engineering Work Stations (EWS), as well as more administrative offices and conference rooms.

In addition to Microsoft Office, it also includes AutoCAD, Autodesk Inventor, Eclipse, MATLAB, and Iode, an educational software package developed by UIUC professor in mathematics Peter Brinkmann.

Engineering Hall was designed by UIUC graduate student George Bullard.

The 63,800-square-foot (5,930 m2) building cost $162,278.40 to construct and featured an interior richly appointed with oak and a ceiling paneled in Washington fir.