Raffles Hall was the one of the first halls to be established in the National University of Singapore (NUS). Founded in 1958, Raffles Hall was originally located in Nassim Road, Bukit Timah, but consequently moved to the current NUS campus at Kent Ridge in 1984, as Kent Ridge Hall and Sheares Hall were already on campus and the convenience of these new halls took its toll on the residential numbers in RH.

Nassim could only hold 250-odd residents, and RH at its new site was almost twice that size. New kids on campus with nothing much to show, spurred on by the old and the new, dreamers and makers began to bud, setting in motion the cogs of our tradition and history...

Raffles Hall has its roots in Raffles College, which was one of the institutes of higher learning that merged to eventually form the National University of Singapore. Although "Raffles" is a common name for many institutions and organisations in Singapore, Raffles Hall is in no way affiliated to them.