The Old Shire Hall, also known as the Hotel Indigo Durham, is a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

in Old Elvet, Durham. The former municipal building was the headquarters of

Durham County Council Durham County Council is the Local government in England, local authority for the non-metropolitan county of County Durham (district), County Durham in North East England. The council is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority, bein ...

from 1898 to 1963 and has been a hotel since 2018.

History

In the 18th century the justices held the

assizes The assizes (), or courts of assize, were periodic courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the quarter sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court. The assizes ex ...

in the Shire Hall (also known as the County House) beside Palace Green; they then moved to a new courthouse at the head of Old Elvet in 1811. Following the implementation of the

Local Government Act 1888 The Local Government Act 1888 (51 & 52 Vict. c. 41) was an Act of Parliament (United Kingdom), act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which established county councils and county borough councils in England and Wales. It came into effect ...

, which established county councils in every county, it became necessary to find a meeting place for

. County leaders decided that the courthouse was not suitable for the purpose and chose to procure county council offices nearby: the site they selected in Old Elvet had previously been occupied by a row of large residential properties. The foundation stone for the new building was laid by the

Lord Lieutenant of Durham This is a list of people who have served as Lord Lieutenant of Durham. Lord lieutenants *Henry Neville, 5th Earl of Westmorland 1552–? * Henry Hastings, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon 2 August 1586 – 1595 *''vacant'' * Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Som ...

, the

Earl of Durham Earl of Durham is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1833 for the Whig politician and colonial official John Lambton, 1st Baron Durham. Known as "Radical Jack", he played a leading role in the passing of the Ref ...

in April 1896. It was designed by Harry Barnes and Frederick Coates in the Baroque Revival style, built by David and John Rankin at a cost of £14,000 and was officially opened by Alderman Samuel Storey on 26 July 1898. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with nine bays in red

terracotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based non-vitreous ceramic OED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used for earthenware obj ...

facing onto Old Elvet with the end bays slightly projected forwards; the central section, which also slightly projected forwards, featured an arched doorway on the ground floor with a wrought-iron grill; there was a pair of round headed windows on the first floor and a tower with a

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

-clad dome at roof level. Internally, the principal room was the council chamber. A new wing, banded in stone and brick, which added an extra three bays to the east of the main building, was completed in 1905. A memorial to county council staff who had died in the First and

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

s was unveiled by the Chairman of the County Council, Councillor Thomas Benfold, on 10 November 1948.

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (195 ...

did not take a favourable view of the building in his 1953 Buildings of England volume, where he described the building as a "deplorable" building "with monumental intentions and disastrous effects" whose "cursedly imperishable red Victorian brick... is such crushing proof of technical proficiency and aesthetic dumbness". After the County Council moved to County Hall at Aykley Heads in October 1963, the Shire Hall served as the administrative headquarters of

Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...

until September 2012 when the University moved to the Mountjoy site, in the Palatine Centre on Stockton Road. The Shire Hall then stood vacant until it was converted for use as a hotel by Brims of

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

to the plans of HL Architects: it re-opened as the Hotel Indigo in March 2018.

References

{{reflist Grade II listed buildings in County Durham D Government buildings completed in 1898 Baroque Revival architecture 1898 establishments in England Hotels established in 2018 2018 establishments in England Hotel Indigo Buildings and structures in Durham, England Hotels in England