Monument record MDR11447 - Assembly Rooms (site of), Market Square, Derby

Pickford came to Derby in 1763 to build the Assembly Rooms for the 5th Earl Ferrers; the Neo-Classical interior was by Robert Adam, 1774, but it was all swept away in 1971 to build Sir Hugh Casson's replacement. (1) In 1963, Derby's original Assembly Rooms, built between 1765 and 1774, was badly damaged by a fire, leaving only the façade standing on Market Place. With the city's public rooms subsequently limited to the Co-operative Central Hall, the King's Hall and the Guildhall, the latter hastily converted after the fire, the council decided to replace and amplify the old facilities of the Assembly Rooms and at the same time consider the renewal of the Market Place. A request to include the 18th century facade in the new scheme was dropped as being unworkable and it was subsequently dismantled and re-erected at the National Tramway Museum in Crich [see SMR 18495]. Work began on the new Assembly Rooms in 1973 and was completed in 1977 [see MDR16534]. (2)