It is one of the three original residence halls that date from when the university was founded in 1921, and like them is modelled on the colleges of the University of Oxford, a complex of buildings including residences, meeting rooms, dining rooms, a prayer hall, gardens, and sporting facilities.

[2] The hall includes four residential buildings: Kisorilal Roy Chowdhury, the Zamindar of Baliati in Saturia, Manikganj, who had previously established Jagannath College named after his father Jagannath Saha, also established this hall of University of Dhaka.

The assembly was housed in Jagannath Hall,[7] Main Article: 1971 Dhaka University Massacre After midnight on 25 March 1971, the campaign of genocide (Operation Searchlight) against intellectuals by the Pakistani army took place in the Dhaka University area.

Jagannath Hall could not be defended against this action, and many residential students and employees were killed on that night.

On 15 October 1985, a tragic accident occurred when the roof of the ancient assembly building of Jagannath Hall collapsed.