Mason Hall was the last and the largest of a set of the halls of residence to be constructed by the University of Birmingham on land at the Vale site in Edgbaston, and the first part of the accommodation was opened in October 1966. Mason Hall had been planned as a pair of two separate buildings, one for men students, and one for women students, which shared catering and social facilities, following the pattern established by Ridge Hall and High Hall, and Lake Hall and Wyddrington Hall, also on the Vale site and opened earlier in the 1960s. The two buildings making up Mason Hall were initially known as Mason Hall and Chad Hall. Mason Hall was intended for women students, and opened first. Chad Hall was intended for men students, and opened in January 1967.
The first meeting of Mason Hall Council was held on 27 September 1966, and administrative tasks were divided between members. The first chairman was Dr T. Alty. When students and staff took up residence at Chad Hall in January 1967, the building was only partially completed. The site was not completely planted with grass and tress, and there was temporary, under-cover access to the shared dining hall, because the contractors had failed to complete the building to time. During the 1966-1967 academic session, distinct identities for Mason Hall and Chad Hall were attempted, though it appears that no President was appointed for Mason Hall, the women students building. The two separate buildings, and their student and staff committees, merged as Mason Hall in October 1967, and the building formerly known as Mason Hall was renamed Calthorpe wing, while Chad Hall became Chad wing. Robert J. Gibson was the first President of Mason Hall, from 1967. He had been a student at the University of Birmingham during the Second World War, and then returned as a member of staff in Zoology in 1951, and had been Warden of Chad Hill, a hall of residence for postgraduate students, and then of Chancellor's Hall, residential accommodation for men students, from 1964. References in administrative files kept by Peter Hodson, a member of the Senior Common Room at Chad Hall, suggest that Mason Hall did not operate as a completely mixed hall until the 1968-1969 academic session, when dining was no longer segregated, and the hall had begun to function as a social community with both men and women students taking active roles on committees and organising shared social activities. Two Junior Common Room Presidents were usually elected each year, one male and one female.
The 1968 Mason Hall handbook states that the daily life of hall was governed by Hall Council which consisted of the President of the Senior Common Room, as chairman, and the resident members of the University academic staff, as Senior Common Room members. Senior Common Room members were appointed by University Council on the recommendation of the Halls of Residence committee, and each student resident was allocated a member of the Senior Common Room as a tutor. The President and Vice-President of the Junior Common Room were also in attendance at meetings of Hall Council. Student residents of hall composed the Junior Common Room, with its affairs controlled by the elected officers and the committee of the Junior Common Room. Matters affecting the hall were discussed by a joint committee of Senior Common Room and Junior Common Room members and put into a form suitable for presentation to the University Halls of Residence committees via Hall Council. Matters of a purely domestic nature were dealt with by the Halls Administrator or Steward, and financial matters by the Finance Office of the University. By February 1973, it appears that the Senate Halls of Residence committee was responsible only for the general welfare of the students, and that administrative and financial business was to be controlled by a sub-committee of the Finance and General Purposes committee, according to a statement in minutes of Hall Council.
The Junior Common Room committee organised social events in hall, including an annual ball, held every year since 1968. There was also a library, games room, television rooms, and various other social amenities. The hall offered catering for most meals, and the Junior Common Room committee had some influence over the choice of food, though the menus were controlled centrally by the Halls Administration. In 1981, self-catering flats at the Tennis Courts complex opened, and some of these were affiliated to Mason Hall, allowing residents to use hall catering and social facilities. The records suggest that, although Mason Hall was generally a popular choice, there were difficulties in filling the large number of double rooms, and that the large size of the hall made it more challenging to create a sense of community and contributed to the social isolation of some students. The records also reveal consistent and long-standing problems with the hall's heating system.
Robert J. Gibson retired in 1985, and David Rolf was appointed Hall President. He was appointed President of University House in 1994, and was replaced by Andre Pacek, though he returned to Mason Hall as a Senior Common Room member after the closure of University House in 2002.
The Director of University Hospitality and Accommodation Services reported to Hall Council in November 1999 that Mason Hall, along with the rest of the student accommodation on the Vale site, would be turned into a 'student village'. Mason Hall was to be upgraded and remodelled with some blocks demolished and the hall was to be converted to provide en-suite single rooms, with refurbishment initially planned for completion in 2003. The intention was for the Junior Common Room to be modernised and replaced by a Residents Association, after discussion with the Guild of Students, and pastoral care was to be replaced by Student Support Officers, supported by Post Graduate Supervisors. Mason Hall was scheduled to close in June 2001. However, by this date the University was still waiting for permission from Birmingham City Council to re-develop the Vale site, and no decision had been made about the future of Mason Hall. Minutes of Hall Council for February 2002 mention the phased demolition of Mason Hall in June 2005/2006.
Concerns were expressed about the function of Hall Council in 2001 due to the lack of Junior Common Room members attending meetings, and there are references to the low number of returning student residents due to uncertainty about Mason Hall's future, the cost of accommodation, and the poor condition of the facilities offered, particularly in comparison with the surplus of new accommodation being constructed in Selly Oak. The Guild of Students took over the running of Mason Hall bar from August 2001, and took control of Junior Common Room finances from the summer of 2002. Mason Hall lost responsibility for the Tennis Court hall-related flats from the 2002-2003 academic session, and changes to cleaning services from 2002-2003 resulted in students having to provide and launder their own bed linen and take responsibility for cleaning their own rooms. Minutes of Hall Council document the deterioration of the hall buildings due to the proposed demolition, and in March 2004 changes to the Senior Common Room and Junior Common Room structure and responsibilities were discussed. It was proposed that each Senior Common Room tutor would take on extra students, and that student mentors would work alongside them. Formal meals were to be discontinued, though the Junior Common Room committee would continue to operate. The Freshers magazine for 2003-2004 mentions the continuation of catering in Mason Hall. There is no surviving magazine for the 2004-2005 academic session, but by 2005-2006 meals were provided in the Shackleton Hall Hub, and there was no longer any on-site catering at Mason Hall. Entries in Incident books for the 2005-2006 academic session indicate that Mason Hall closed in June 2006. The hall buildings were subsequently demolished, and replaced by a set of student flats on the same site
