The Toad Hall residence was designed by internationally acclaimed Australian architect John Andrews in the early 1970s, with construction starting in 1973 and opening to its first residents in April 1974. It was considered quite a 'revolutionary' design in student residences at that time and is listed on the ACT Chapter of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects Register of Significant Twentieth Century Architecture and on the Commonwealth Heritage List.[3]
The University Council allowed the hall of residence to be named Toad Hall following the recommendation of the first residents of the hall where the setting, with the long line of willow trees between the hall and Sullivans Creek, was evocative of Kenneth Grahame's children's novel, The Wind in the Willows.[1] It is the only residence on campus named by its first residents.
