 The hall was originally named Napier House after its commissioner and first occupant, Arthur Sampson Napier.A fellow of Merton College and professor of English language and literature, he employed the architect Harry Wilkinson Moore to design a house for himself, his wife, their six children and four servants.The house was to be built on land he had recently purchased in Pullen's Lane at the top of Headington Hill, an area of growing favour among Oxford academics.