Originally a large private house built in the 18th century, it was acquired, along with Thwaite Hall, by the newly established university college in 1928.

Soon after being acquired by the then university college a two-storey range of student accommodation, later known as the "Old Wing," was constructed running south-westward from the original building.

Known as the "New Wing," it was not physically connected to the earlier buildings; it was largely of brick construction with flat roofs, and the windows were sunk in vertical channels with concrete sills and lintels.

[3] The original house was for most of its life stuccoed and painted white, however, it was hacked back to bare brick and stone in some places, or rendered in others, in the 1990s.

[5] The university announced, in January 2015, the sale of the Needler Hall site for redevelopment, with plans to continue in its former function until summer 2016.

Contemporaneously, the poet Philip Larkin became the university's librarian; newly arrived at Hull, he served as a sub-warden at Needler Hall where he took meals, though he lived in private accommodation.