Headington Hill Hall stands on Headington Hill

Headington Hill

Headington Hill is a hill in the east of Oxford, England, in the suburb of Headington. The Headington Road road goes up the hill leading out of the city...

 in the east of Oxford

Oxford

The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It was built in 1824 for the Morrell family, local brewers, and was extended between 1856 and 1858, by James Morrell junior (1810–1863) who built an Italianate mansion, designed by architect John Thomas

John Thomas (sculptor)

John Thomas was a British sculptor and architect, who worked on Buckingham Palace and the Palace of Westminster.John Thomas was born in Chalford, Gloucestershire....

. The family remained in residence for 114 years.

Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde

Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...

 attended an all-night fancy dress May Day

May Day

May Day on May 1 is an ancient northern hemisphere spring festival and usually a public holiday; it is also a traditional spring holiday in many cultures....

 Ball given by Mr and Mrs Herbert Morrell at the Hall on 1 May 1878 for around three hundred guests, gaudily dressed as Prince Rupert. Lady Ottoline Morrell

Lady Ottoline Morrell

The Lady Ottoline Violet Anne Morrell was an English aristocrat and society hostess. Her patronage was influential in artistic and intellectual circles, where she befriended writers such as Aldous Huxley, Siegfried Sassoon, T. S. Eliot and D. H...

 (1873–1938), who owned the Hall for a period, was particularly associated as a hostess with the Bloomsbury Group

Bloomsbury Group

The Bloomsbury Group or Bloomsbury Set was a group of writers, intellectuals, philosophers and artists who held informal discussions in Bloomsbury throughout the 20th century. This English collective of friends and relatives lived, worked or studied near Bloomsbury in London during the first half...

.

Subsequently, the publisher Robert Maxwell

Robert Maxwell

Ian Robert Maxwell MC was a Czechoslovakian-born British media proprietor and former Member of Parliament , who rose from poverty to build an extensive publishing empire...

 (1923–1991), founder of Pergamon Press

Pergamon Press

Pergamon Press was an Oxford-based publishing house, founded by Paul Rosbaud and Robert Maxwell, which published scientific and medical books and journals. It is now an imprint of Elsevier....

, leased the building from the Oxford City Council

Oxford City Council

The Oxford City Council provides local government for the city of Oxford in England.- Overview :Between the 2004 local elections, and 2010 the council was in minority administration, first by councillors from the Labour Party, with the Liberal Democrats being the official opposition...

 for 32 years. He described it as the "best council house

Council house

A council house, otherwise known as a local authority house, is a form of public or social housing. The term is used primarily in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Council houses were built and operated by local councils to supply uncrowded, well-built homes on secure tenancies at...

 in the country."

Since 1992, Headington Hill Hall has been leased to Oxford Brookes University

Oxford Brookes University

Oxford Brookes University is a new university in Oxford, England. It was named to honour the school's founding principal, John Brookes. It has been ranked as the best new university by the Sunday Times University Guide 10 years in a row...

. It is the current home of the Oxford Institute of Legal Practice and the Department of Law.