Hall - Definition and Overview

Hall is a term often used to refer to several different types of room in a house or a building.

This is either a long, narrow room which serves purely as an access to other rooms. This type of hall is also called a corridor, a passage, or a hallway. As an extension of this, the front entranceway or entrance room of the house is also often called the hall because it serves as an access to the main part of the house (also called the entry hall). In office buildings and larger buildings (theatres, cinemas etc), the entry room is generally known as the foyer or the atrium.

The term hall can be used to refer to the houses of medieval kings and nobles, and to some kinds of building in their entirety, for example a Meeting hall, or a Church hall. Again, presumably this is because the building serves as a gathering place and it is generally a large empty space with minimal furnishings and decoration. Many buildings at colleges and universities are formally titled "________ Hall", typically being named after distinguished alumni or other persons associated with the school.

In German speaking areas, Hall can also be (part of) a town name, where the name refers to hall, the celtic word for salt. Hall is the short form of the name of: (i) the medieval German town Schwäbisch Hall, where it was its only name prior to 1933 (ii) the Austrian town Hall in Tirol near Innsbruck, which used to be called Solbad Hall from 1938 to 1974, (iii) Hallstatt in Austria which gave its name to the Celtic Hallstatt culture.

See also

• Hall County
• Halls of residence
• List of City Halls
• List of Halls and Walks of Fame
• List of people with the surname Hall