Netherhall House reached the half-century mark in April 2002. Friends, patrons and about 200 alumni from around the globe joined its 100 residents for a weekend celebration which took place in June. Students and ex-residents watched videos of some of the more important moments in Netherhall's history, including the day the Queen Mother came to visit. But more than the historical highlights, the abiding pleasure for the former residents was coming back to their home in London and exchanging reminiscences.

Netherhall was acquired as a hall of residence for students at London University and other higher education institutions in 1952. At first it occupied one house and accommodated just 25 students, but it swiftly expanded to include the house next door. In the mid-1960s, a new wing was opened in what had been the gardens of the two houses. The new buildings included 50 student bedrooms as well as common facilities such as dining room, sitting room, study library and 140-seat auditorium. Alongside this was built the Lakefield Training Centre for catering and hospitality.

The new development was officially opened by the Queen Mother in November 1966. By the late 1980s the original buildings had to be closed due to structural damage. A new phase was built in the 1990s incorporating another 50 bedrooms. This final phase was opened by the Duchess of Kent in May 1995.

The hall of residence has always had a very international make-up. Each year around thirty different countries are represented. Over its entire fifty-year existence, more than half of the 3,000 residents who have lived there for a year or more have come from outside Europe.

A common theme of the day was the family environment that residents of different decades had all found in Netherhall. Kevin Dalton, a student living there during the late 1960s commented, 'In 1968 Netherhall was free of student rioting – perhaps the only place in London that was. There was too much of a family feel for that'. On its fiftieth anniversary Netherhall now occupies three sides of a block in residential Hampstead.

There was a second fiftieth anniversary celebration on 7 September. The response was once again overwhelming.

Many past residents came for a second time, their numbers swelled by others who had been unable to attend the celebrations in June. Not everyone was able to get to Netherhall the second time round. Sir Bernard Audley, Chairman of the Patrons and for so long a key supporter, with his wife Lady Audley, sent a letter instead: 'We both feel that Netherhall has enriched our lives, as it has that of so many others'. And Augustine J. Chong, a resident in 1960, who later became Professor of Physics at the University of Singapore, writes: 'I was a foreigner from a tiny country, and yet I felt I was part of a big family at Netherhall'. Buildings come and go, but the spirit remains.