The Devonshire Dome building (previously known as the
Devonshire Royal Hospital
The Devonshire Royal Hospital was established as the Devonshire Hospital in 1859 in Buxton, Derbyshire by the Buxton Bath Charity for the treatment of the poor. The hospital was built in the converted stable block of The Crescent. The building ...
) is a
Grade II* listed
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 ...
18th-century former
stable block in
Buxton
Buxton is a spa town in the Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level. ,
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 ...
. It was built by
John Carr of York and extended by architect
Robert Rippon Duke
Robert Rippon Duke (31 May 1817 16 August 1909) was an English architect and surveyor who designed various prominent Victorian buildings in Buxton, Derbyshire.
Life
Duke was born in Hull, the son of a whaler, in 1817.
He moved to Buxton and in ...
,
who added what was then the world's largest unsupported
dome
A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...
, with a diameter of . It is now the site of the Buxton Campus of the
University of Derby
, mottoeng = Experience is the best teacher
, established = 1851 – Teacher Training College1992 – gained university status
, type = Public
, chancellor = William Cavendish, Ear ...
.
History
1780–1850s: Stables
Built between 1780 and 1789, the original building was designed by
John Carr of York for
William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire
William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire, (14 December 1748 – 29 July 1811), was a British nobleman, aristocrat, and politician. He was the eldest son of William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire, by his wife, the heiress Lady Charlotte Bo ...
. Octagonal in shape, it housed up to 120 horses and the servants of the guests of the
Crescent
A crescent shape (, ) is a symbol or emblem used to represent the lunar phase in the first quarter (the "sickle moon"), or by extension a symbol representing the Moon itself.
In Hinduism, Lord Shiva is often shown wearing a crescent moon on his ...
Hotel,
built in combination as part of the plan to promote Buxton as a spa town.
[ The interior façade was described as an almost exact copy of The Palace of Christian Kings at the ]Alhambra
The Alhambra (, ; ar, الْحَمْرَاء, Al-Ḥamrāʾ, , ) is a palace and fortress complex located in Granada, Andalusia, Spain. It is one of the most famous monuments of Islamic architecture and one of the best-preserved palaces of the ...
in Granada.
1859–2000: Hospital
In 1859, the Buxton Bath Charity had persuaded the Duke of Devonshire to allow part of the building – by then accommodating nothing like the 110 horses for which it was designed – to be converted to a charity hospital for the use of the ‘sick poor’ coming in for treatment from the ‘Cottonopolis’ of Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...
and Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...
. The Devonshire estate architect, Henry Currey, architect for St Thomas’s Hospital in London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, converted two thirds of the building into a hospital.[
In 1881, the Buxton Bath Charity trustees, under their chairman Dr William Henry Robertson, persuaded ]William Cavendish, 7th Duke of Devonshire
William Cavendish, 7th Duke of Devonshire, (27 April 1808 – 21 December 1891), styled as Lord Cavendish of Keighley between 1831 and 1834 and known as Earl of Burlington between 1834 and 1858, was a British landowner, benefactor, nobleman, ...
to give them the use of the whole building in exchange for providing new stables elsewhere in the town. Local architect Robert Rippon Duke
Robert Rippon Duke (31 May 1817 16 August 1909) was an English architect and surveyor who designed various prominent Victorian buildings in Buxton, Derbyshire.
Life
Duke was born in Hull, the son of a whaler, in 1817.
He moved to Buxton and in ...
was commissioned to design a 300-bed hospital to rival Bath and Harrogate for charity medical provision. The Cotton Districts Convalescent fund put up £25,000 for the conversion. The steel
Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...
structure was clad in slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...
, and proposed to be supported by 22 curved steel arms. However, during construction the Tay Bridge disaster
The Tay Bridge disaster occurred during a violent storm on Sunday 28 December 1879, when the first Tay Rail Bridge collapsed as a North British Railway (NBR) passenger train on the Edinburgh to Aberdeen Line from Burntisland bound for its fina ...
occurred on 28 December 1879, and so the number of arms was revised upwards.
Included in Rippon Duke's design what was the world's largest unsupported dome with a diameter of ; it surpassed that of the Pantheon
Pantheon may refer to:
* Pantheon (religion), a set of gods belonging to a particular religion or tradition, and a temple or sacred building
Arts and entertainment Comics
*Pantheon (Marvel Comics), a fictional organization
* ''Pantheon'' (Lone S ...
() and St Peter's Basilica
The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican ( it, Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano), or simply Saint Peter's Basilica ( la, Basilica Sancti Petri), is a church built in the Renaissance style located in Vatican City, the papal en ...
() in Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
, and St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grad ...
(). Overtaken by the West Baden Springs Hotel
The West Baden Springs Hotel, formerly known as the West Baden Inn, is part of the French Lick Resort and is a national historic landmark hotel in West Baden Springs, Orange County, Indiana. It is known for the dome covering its atrium.
Prior t ...
designed by Harrison Albright
Harrison Albright (May 17, 1866 – January 3, 1932) was an American architect best known for his design of the West Baden Springs Hotel in Orange County, Indiana.
Biography
Born in the Ogontz neighborhood of North Philadelphia, Pennsylvan ...
in 1902 (), the record is now routinely surpassed today by space frame
In architecture and structural engineering, a space frame or space structure ( 3D truss) is a rigid, lightweight, truss-like structure constructed from interlocking struts in a geometric pattern. Space frames can be used to span large areas with ...
domes, such as the Georgia Dome
The Georgia Dome was a domed stadium in the Southeastern United States. Located in Atlanta between downtown to the east and Vine City to the west, it was owned and operated by the State of Georgia as part of the Georgia World Congress Center ...
(), but the Devonshire is still the largest unsupported dome in the UK.[ The dome has a floor area of .
Further changes were undertaken, with the clock tower (a tribute to the hospital's chairman Dr William Henry Robertson) and lodge completed in 1882, surgical wards in 1897, spa baths in 1913, and the dining room and kitchens in 1921. The building became known as the Devonshire Royal Hospital in 1934.][ It was the last of the eight ]hydropathic
Hydrotherapy, formerly called hydropathy and also called water cure, is a branch of alternative medicine (particularly naturopathy), occupational therapy, and Physical therapy, physiotherapy, that involves the use of water for pain relief and tr ...
hospitals in England to close, in 2000.
2001–present: University and college campus, venue and attraction
On 31 January 2001, the University of Derby
, mottoeng = Experience is the best teacher
, established = 1851 – Teacher Training College1992 – gained university status
, type = Public
, chancellor = William Cavendish, Ear ...
acquired the Devonshire Dome and associated surrounding buildings. The university received £4.7m from the Heritage Lottery Fund
The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom.
History
The fund's predecessor bodies were ...
for the restoration and redevelopment project.[
Refurbished and reopened in 2003,] the main building and its surrounding Victorian era
In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...
villas are now part of the University of Derby. The Devonshire Dome functioned as a campus of the University of Derby
, mottoeng = Experience is the best teacher
, established = 1851 – Teacher Training College1992 – gained university status
, type = Public
, chancellor = William Cavendish, Ear ...
and of Buxton & Leek College
Buxton & Leek College is a college of Further and Higher Education operating at their campuses and facilities in Buxton, Derbyshire, Leek, Staffordshire and Derby, Derbyshire. The college is part of the University of Derby.
History
Buxton & ...
, and as a commercial venue and visitor attraction.
As a university campus, it has been the base for the University of Derby’s degree programmes in Outdoor Leadership and Adventure Sports Coaching, Events Management, Hospitality Management, Tourism Management, Professional Culinary Arts and Spa & Wellness Management. In October 2019, the university announced that the dome would cease to be a campus for university courses from 2022, when the Outdoors, Adventure, Spa and Wellness courses will close and the rest of Centre for Contemporary Hospitality and Tourism courses will move to the university's main campus in Derby. The dome continues to be an education campus for Buxton & Leek College
Buxton & Leek College is a college of Further and Higher Education operating at their campuses and facilities in Buxton, Derbyshire, Leek, Staffordshire and Derby, Derbyshire. The college is part of the University of Derby.
History
Buxton & ...
.
As a commercial venue, it is frequently used for large weddings, and has hosted celebrity weddings, including that of Hollyoaks star Kieron Richardson
Kieron Mark Richardson (born 12 January 1986) is an English actor and television presenter. He plays the role of Ste Hay in ''Hollyoaks'', having previously appeared in '' Heartbeat'' as Ricky Smith. He won the British Soap Award for Best On ...
. Open to the public, the space houses cafés, a restaurant and study spaces, and visitors can observe the swing of a Foucault pendulum
The Foucault pendulum or Foucault's pendulum is a simple device named after French physicist Léon Foucault, conceived as an experiment to demonstrate the Earth's rotation. A long and heavy pendulum suspended from the high roof above a circular a ...
during certain times of the year.
On 23 October 2015, the venue played host to Jack Massey's defeat of Gogita Gorgiladze for the vacant WBC Youth Silver Title.
References
External links
University of Derby, Buxton Campus
Devonshire Dome (commercial) website
University of Derby website
Buxton & Leek College website
Newsreel showing soldiers undergoing treatment in 1916
{{authority control
Dome
A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...
Devonshire Dome
The Devonshire Dome building (previously known as the Devonshire Royal Hospital) is a Listed building, Grade II* listed 18th-century former Stable, stable block in Buxton, Derbyshire. It was built by John Carr (architect), John Carr of York and ...
University of Derby
Grade II* listed buildings in Derbyshire
Devonshire Dome
The Devonshire Dome building (previously known as the Devonshire Royal Hospital) is a Listed building, Grade II* listed 18th-century former Stable, stable block in Buxton, Derbyshire. It was built by John Carr (architect), John Carr of York and ...