Chesterfield Town Hall is a municipal building on Rose Hill,

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

, England. It is a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

History

An 18th century town hall was designed by a Mr. Carr of

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

and erected in the Market Place in 1790. In the second half of 19th century the borough council met in a cramped municipal hall on the corner of Beetwell Street and South Street. Chesterfield Corporation acquired the Stephenson Memorial Hall in 1889 and proceeded to create a more spacious council chamber by converting the lecture hall for use by the councillors in 1905. An inquiry in a serious explosion at

Grassmoor Grassmoor is a village in Derbyshire, England, approximately three miles to the south of Chesterfield. Its original name, according to 16th-century parish records, was ''Gresmore''. The appropriate civil parish is called Grassmoor, Hasland and Wi ...

Colliery, which led to the deaths of 14 miners, was held in the council chamber in the Stephenson Memorial Hall in December 1933. A purpose-built facility on Rose Hill, which was designed by

Bradshaw Gass & Hope Bradshaw Gass & Hope is an English architectural practice founded in 1862 by Jonas James Bradshaw (–1912). The style "Bradshaw Gass & Hope" was adopted after his death referring to the remaining partners John Bradshaw Gass and Arthur John Ho ...

in the Neo-Georgian style and built by Robert Carlyle Co of

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, was officially opened by

Evelyn Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire Evelyn Emily Mary Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, (née Fitzmaurice; 27 August 1870 – 2 April 1960) was the wife of Victor Cavendish, 9th Duke of Devonshire. She was the elder daughter of politician and diplomat Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, ...

on 6 April 1938. The sculptural decoration on the outside of the building was undertaken by

Frank Tory and Sons Frank Tory and Sons were an English family firm of Sheffield based architectural sculptors whose work enhances some of the city's finest late 19th century and early 20th century buildings.''"Pevenser Architectural Guides: Sheffield"'', Ruth Harman ...

while the interior decoration involved extensive use of

walnut A walnut is the edible seed of a drupe of any tree of the genus ''Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''. Although culinarily considered a "nut" and used as such, it is not a true ...

panelling and the rooms were given an

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

ian theme to them; the ceilings were richly decorated with

lotus flower ''Nelumbo nucifera'', also known as sacred lotus, Laxmi lotus, Indian lotus, or simply lotus, is one of two extant species of aquatic plant in the family Nelumbonaceae. It is sometimes colloquially called a water lily, though this more often ref ...

s. A war memorial and some urns, terraces and steps which had been designed by Bradshaw Gass & Hope as part of the formal approach to the town hall was unveiled by the

Andrew Cavendish, 11th Duke of Devonshire Andrew Robert Buxton Cavendish, 11th Duke of Devonshire, (2 January 1920 – 3 May 2004), styled Lord Andrew Cavendish until 1944 and Marquess of Hartington from 1944 to 1950, was a British Conservative and later Social Democratic Party politic ...

on 8 May 1954. The building, which had served as the meeting place of Borough of Chesterfield continued to be the local seat of government after enlargement of the council's area in 1974. An extensive refurbishment, at a cost of £2.7 million, was completed in autumn 2018. Through the removal of interior walls, the works created extra space which enabled the Derbyshire Register Office and other public sector organisations to be accommodated in the building. Works of art in the town hall include a portrait by

Henry William Pickersgill Henry William Pickersgill RA (3 December 1782 – 21 April 1875) was an English painter specialising in portraits. He was a Royal Academician for almost fifty years, and painted many of the most notable figures of his time. Biography Born in L ...

Richard Arkwright Sir Richard Arkwright (23 December 1732 – 3 August 1792) was an English inventor and a leading entrepreneur during the early Industrial Revolution. He is credited as the driving force behind the development of the spinning frame, known as t ...

References

{{reflist City and town halls in Derbyshire Government buildings completed in 1938 Grade II listed buildings in Derbyshire Buildings and structures in Chesterfield, Derbyshire