St Helen's House, Derby
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

St Helen's House is a Grade I
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 ...
. situated in King Street,
Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...
,
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. Now leased as offices, it has been used in the past as a private residence and as an educational establishment. In 2013, renovation of the main house was completed. Originally it was planned to convert both St Helen's House and the Pearson Building into a luxury hotel, with an adjoining crescent of new apartments. Due to the economic situation in 2011 this plan was changed, and it was decided to convert the building into an office instead. Renovation of the Pearson Building began in 2020 to convert its ground and first floors into commercial units and the upper floor into apartments. In 2019 several of the associated building were demolished to make way for the Kings Crescent Apartments.


Construction

St Helen's House was built between 1766 and 1767 for John Gisborne (of Yoxall Lodge, Staffordshire). The house was built in the
Palladian Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...
style by
architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
Joseph Pickford Joseph Pickford (bap. 6 October 1734 – 13 July 1782) was an English architect that mostly worked within the English county of Derbyshire, and was one of the leading provincial architects in the reign of George III. The house he designed for h ...
. It originally stood in of parkland. It has been described by Maxwell Craven, for the Georgian Group of London, as "one of the few surviving purpose-built Georgian gentleman’s town houses of this size and quality outside London.". His report details the construction of the House along with the alterations and extensions added by William Strutt (1756–1830).


Strutt family

In 1801, the house was purchased by William Strutt, the eldest son of
Jedediah Strutt Jedediah Strutt (1726 – 7 May 1797) or Jedidiah Strutt – as he spelled it – was a hosier and cotton spinner from Belper, England. Strutt and his brother-in-law William Woollat developed an attachment to the stocking frame that allowed ...
(a pioneer in the cotton and hosier industry). Following William's death, the house passed to his son
Edward Edward is an English male name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortunate; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-S ...
, who became MP and Alderman of Derby. He was created
Edward Strutt, 1st Baron Belper Edward Strutt, 1st Baron Belper Privy Council of the United Kingdom, PC Royal Society, FRS (26 October 1801 – 30 June 1880), was a British Whigs (British political party), Whig Party politician. He served as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancast ...
in 1846. His son,
Henry Strutt, 2nd Baron Belper Henry Strutt, 2nd Baron Belper, (20 May 1840 – 26 July 1914), styled The Honourable Henry Strutt between 1856 and 1880, was a British businessman, courtier and politician. Initially a Liberal, he left the party over Irish Home Rule and later ...
was born in St Helen's House in 1840.


Educational use

In 1860 Edward Strutt offered to sell the house to the governors of
Derby School Derby School was a school in Derby in the English Midlands from 1160 to 1989. It had an almost continuous history of education of over eight centuries. For most of that time it was a grammar school for boys. The school became co-educational a ...
. Initially the school could not afford to buy the house, but Edward Strutt, "being desirous of promoting the cause of education in Derby" loaned the house for free, on a temporary basis. The school moved to the house in January 1861 and purchased it from Strutt in 1863, for £3,300. £1,300 of this came from a public subscription and £2,000 from a mortgage raised by Derby Corporation. During
World War II 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 ...
the school was evacuated and the buildings were occupied by the
Ordnance Survey The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...
organisation to undertake the creation of maps used by Allied Forces. In this period the school was housed first at Overton Hall,
Ashover Ashover is a village and civil parish in the English county of Derbyshire. It is in the North East Derbyshire district of the county. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 Census was 1,905, increasing to 1,959 for the 2021 censu ...
(September 1939 – June 1940) and secondly at Amber Valley Camp at
Woolley Moor Woolley Moor is a small village in the North East Derbyshire district of Derbyshire, England. Its amenities include a school, a church and a public house called the White Horse. Almost all of the villagers work outside the village although ...
(June 1940 until July 1945). The school returned to St Helen's House in September 1945. Derby School moved from St Helen's House in 1966 when it moved to a new purpose-built complex in
Littleover Littleover is a village and suburb in the city of Derby, in Derbyshire, England, between Rose Hill, Derbyshire, Rose Hill, Normanton, Derbyshire, Normanton, Sunny Hill, Derbyshire, Sunny Hill and Mickleover, about southwest of Derby city centre ...
called Moorway Lane. Following this move St Helen's House was used as the Joseph Wright School of Art and, from 1972, as an Adult Education centre. Due to the deterioration of the external fabric of the buildings, the centre was moved and the building became vacant in 2004.


Sale, subsequent conversion and development of site

It was estimated that the building required £5 million of repair work. Unable to afford this, in November 2006
Derby City Council Derby City Council is the Local government in England, local authority for the City status in the United Kingdom, city of Derby, in the ceremonial county of Derbyshire in the East Midlands region of England. Derby has had a council from medieval ...
sold the house (and the neighboring Pearson Building) on a 299-year lease, to the property developer Richard Blunt. The original plans were to convert the two buildings into a fifty-room hotel, and to construct an apartment block within a crescent where the current Chapel, gymnasium and craft workshops stand. Planning permission was granted in 2009. During 2008 and 2009 the building was made wind and weather-proof. The interior was generally tidied up and the educational equipment removed. In 2011, due to the economic climate, the hotel development proposals were cancelled. In July 2011 a revised planning application was submitted which proposed converting the two buildings into offices. The building was featured in a short film entitled ''Derby School – the Sixties Revisited'', which was made in September 2012. The film revealed the then dilapidated state of the rooms; including peeling paint and remnants of original blackboards. Following the completion of repairs and renovations to St Helen's House, in October 2013 a
Blue Plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom, and certain other countries and territories, to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving a ...
was placed by Derby Civic Society and Derby City Council commemorating the house as the former residence of William Strutt and Rev. Thomas Gisborne. In 2013 a firm of accountants took out a lease on the offices within the house. the original link structure (which held the school bell and the entrance for all pupils except 6th formers) between St Helen's House and the Pearson Building had been demolished and replaced by a new decorative wall. work was underway to convert the Pearson Building into commercial units on the ground and first floors and apartments on the second floor. It is planned to convert the original headmaster's house (known by many former boys as the Armoury) into apartments. The former chemistry laboratory, the cloisters, the wooden gymnasium, the former woodwork rooms and the chapel which were showing a lot of disrepair have been demolished to make way for the Kings Crescent Apartments - 46 apartments and 3 adjacent dwelling houses.


See also

*
Grade I listed buildings in Derbyshire There are over 9000 Grade I listed buildings in England. This page is a list of these buildings in the county of Derbyshire, sub-divided by district. Amber Valley Bolsover Chesterfield City of Derby ...
*
Listed buildings in Derby (northern area) The area to the north and northwest of the centre of the city of Derby, England, contains 76 Listed building#England and Wales, listed buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List for England. Of these, three are listed at Grade&n ...


References


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Helens House Structures on the Heritage at Risk register Houses in Derby Grade I listed buildings in Derby Grade I listed houses Hotels in Derbyshire Houses completed in 1767 1767 establishments in England