Castle Museum And Art Gallery

The Castle Museum and Art Gallery is a ducal palace, dating from 1674-79, originally designed by Samuel Marsh of Lincoln for William Cavendish, the first Duke of Newcastle. The interior was refitted in 1719 by Sir John Vanbrugh. A fire during the Reform Bill riots in 1831 caused extensive damage, followed by substantial remodelling between 1876 and 1878 by TC Hine of Nottingham for Nottingham Corporation. Further restoration took place in 1908 and in the 20th century. The building is constructed in a Provincial Baroque style, with ashlar facades and hipped roofs, a mix of glazed and slated surfaces.

The ground floor windows are primarily 2-light plain sashes with stone mullions, while the first floor features stone mullioned cross casements. The second floor contains mainly 19th-century dummy windows with round-arched stone tracery. The original east elevation, remodelled internally to two storeys, includes a basement, piano nobile, and attic. The layout is a U-plan, consisting of nine bays across three bays, flanked by rear wings enclosing a central courtyard. The main entrance was moved from the east to the west during the 1876-78 remodelling. The east front exhibits full rustication, a modillion main cornice, and a 19th-century pierced balustrade. A slightly projecting central section, spanning five bays, is divided by Corinthian half-columns, with pilasters defining the side bays. The basement has reglazed windows and a central 19th-century door, each embellished with double keystones. A central window, featuring columns and a cornice, is flanked by four pedimented windows, each with balustrades. An equestrian statue crowns the central section above the attic, which retains original 2-light windows with strapwork surrounds. The west front, the new main entrance, incorporates a curved Tuscan colonnade from the 19th century, covering a triple niche with doors at each end. Above the colonnade is a former doorcase, with columns and a segmental pediment, flanked by single windows. Recessed bays above the colonnade each have two windows per floor. The outer facades on the west side possess three windows. The south front displays a rusticated basement containing a round-arched rusticated porch and balcony, flanked by three round-arched French windows. Above, there are three corniced windows with rusticated surrounds. The attic features 19th-century windows. The north front, with four windows, showcases a regular 19th-century fenestration pattern. A sub-basement service range, with nine windows, incorporates a balustrade and an arcaded sunken courtyard.

The interior features ashlar doorcases with segmental broken pediments. Two painted ashlar open-well staircases and landings are present, complete with cast-iron balustrades, coved ceilings, and cross-beamed skylights. A ground floor gallery to the south has moulded cross beams resting on shaped corbels. Ground floor rooms on the east side have jack-arched fireproof ceilings. First floor galleries display coved ceilings with moulded cornices and cross-beamed skylights. A long gallery is divided by a round-arched ashlar screen with pierced pedestals. The building holds historical significance as the first municipal museum and art gallery in England.