In his new Derbyshire’s Buildings of Delight series, Mike Smith tells the stories behind the making of the county’s iconic buildings
The transformation of an 18th century stables block into a building topped by one of the world’s most magnificent domes is an inspiring tale of soaring ambition.
Our story begins in 1785 when the 5th Duke of Devonshire hatched a plan to convert Buxton into a spa town to rival Bath.
His first step was to commission the York architect, John Carr, to design a fashionable crescent, along the lines of those constructed in Bath.
After designing a building that turned out, in Nikolaus Pevsner’s view, to be even more elegant than John Wood’s celebrated Royal Crescent, Carr was asked to plan a stables block to house the 120 horses that would be used to bring an expected influx of visitors to the Derbyshire spa.
The architect responded by designing an elegant classical building arranged around the circumference of an exercise yard of half an acre.
However, when the railways arrived in the mid-19th century, the stables were no longer required to accommodate the number of horses envisaged in the original plan.
The 6th Duke of Devonshire’s land agent, Mr Wilmot, responded by coming up with a scheme to convert two thirds of the stables into a hospital for the ‘sick poor’.
This novel plan went ahead despite the objections of Dr Robertson, a prominent local doctor, who said ‘no human creatures could be healthy where horses had lived.’
By the 1870s, the Buxton Charity Trustees were suggesting to the 7th Duke that he might go one stage further, by agreeing to the conversion of the entirety of the stables block into a 300-bed hospital.
The architect chosen for this final transformation was Robert Rippon Duke, who had already designed a spectacular octagonal concert hall in Buxton’s Pavilion Gardens.
Emboldened by the success of this project, the architect decided to carry out the conversion of the stables into a hospital by covering the exercise yard of half an acre by a huge dome clad in slate and held in place by 22 radiating metal struts, without any other visible means of support.
A MOMENT OF PANIC
Even the notoriously confident architect suffered a moment of panic when news came through from Scotland that the Tay Bridge, which had relied for its stability on the strength of iron-girders, similar to those used in the Buxton dome, had collapsed into the river Tay in a fierce storm, taking with it a passenger train and resulting in the drowning of 75 people.
It is said that Robert Rippon Duke rushed to Buxton and ordered an immediate check on the condition of every rivet in his dome.
The dome passed this test and was, for many years, the largest unsupported dome in the world – larger than those of St Paul’s Cathedral, the Duomo in Florence and St Peter’s in Rome.
Although some even larger domes have been constructed in recent years in various parts of the world, the Buxton dome remains as one of the iconic buildings of its type to be found anywhere.
In 1934, the hospital that Duke had designed became known as the Devonshire Royal Hospital and was the last of eight hydropathic hospitals that were built in England.
When the hospital closed its doors for the last time in July 2000, the future of this great building was thrown into doubt, before it was rescued by Professor Roger Waterhouse, who lodged a successful bid for the Dome to become the centrepiece of a campus of the University of Derby.
PAMPERED GUINEA PIGS
Twenty years on, the Devonshire Dome, as it is now known, functions as a specialist base where students of Buxton and Leek College can prepare for careers in professions such as hairdressing, beauty therapy, catering, hospitality and the administration of luxury spa treatments.
All the skills they will need are acquired in state-of-the art facilities, where, under the watchful eye of their tutors, they can practise on paying members of the public, who are more than happy to act as pampered guinea pigs (www.devonshiredome.co.uk).
WHILST YOU ARE THERE:
Whether you choose to take advantage of the treatments on offer, eat at the restaurant where students practise their catering skills, or simply prefer to wander into the building, free of charge, to stand in awe beneath that amazing unsupported ceiling, you can extend your trip by visiting other wonderful tourist attractions in Buxton.
The Wonder of the Peak Tram Tour (www.discoverbuxton.co.uk).
From the promenade of the Pavilion Gardens, you can embark on a one-hour journey through time on a vintage ‘tram’, stopping to admire the landmarks and historic buildings of Buxton along the way.
The Crescent Heritage Experience (www.buxtoncrescentexperience.co.uk).
Housed in nine rooms of the Crescent Hotel, this imaginative exhibition tells the story of the spa town. Your tour will include a dizzying virtual reality flight above the town during its Georgian heyday, when you will also be able to rub shoulders with Regency high society at a glamorous ball.
The Pavilion Gardens (parkwoodoutdoors.co.uk).
The Pavilion Gardens provide more than enough pleasure for all the family: an adventure play area; a gin gift shop; an art gallery exhibiting the work of High Peak Artists; a boating lake; a miniature train; an ice cream parlour; tea rooms; the Pavilion Kitchen; a coffee van; and a flower shop.
The Buxton Museum and Art Gallery (www.derbyshire.gov.uk).
Discover the geology, archaeology and history of the Peak District at the Wonders of the Peak Exhibition, where the 1,200 objects on display include examples of the unique Blue John stone.
Buxton Country Park (www.poolescavern.co.uk).
The country park includes Poole’s Cavern, a spectacular limestone cave with one of the longest stalactites to be found anywhere and woodland walks leading to the folly of Solomon’s Temple, from where there is a panoramic view over Buxton, with the Devonshire Dome taking centre stage.
The Crescent Health Spa (www.ensanahotels.com).
To make the most of your visit, you can book one of the 81 rooms and suites in the elegant surroundings of the eighteenth-century Crescent Hotel, which offers traditional hydrotherapy, luxury spa treatments, lifestyle treatments and healthy cuisine.
