[1] Thompson Hall is a Romanesque Revival structure set on a knoll just south of Main Street, with a broad expanse of lawn in between.

The tower is a massive square structure, rising five stories to a pyramidal roof, and features an electronic carillon installed in 1952, and a Howard clock donated by the architects.

Benjamin Thompson, a Durham farmer, died 1890, leaving an estate worth $400,000, with 253 acres (102 ha) of land, to the state for use as an agricultural school.

The state accepted his gift, and construction of Thompson Hall began in 1891, with a landscape plan for the campus developed by Charles Eliot.

The interior was extensively altered in 1986, retaining only a few rooms in their original appearance; one of these houses had museum displays relating to the university's history.