Old Hall Hotel

Old Hall Hotel, Buxton

Town house, now hotel. Originally built in 1572 for the Earl and Countess of Shrewsbury, altered in 1672, rebuilt 1725-35, extended in the mid-18th century and 1795-1805, with late 19th-century refenestration and 20th-century alterations.

The building is constructed in ashlar gritstone and render with ashlar dressings and Welsh slate hipped roofs and stone stacks.

The main front comprises a 3-storey main block with 5 windows arranged in a 1:3:1 pattern, flanked by slightly projecting side wings. A plinth, raised quoins and bands to the wings support a moulded cornice topped by a rebuilt ashlar parapet. The central doorway features Tuscan Doric columns and entablature, with a moulded concave door surround, overlight and double doors. Either side are two 2/2 sashes in moulded surrounds; above the central 2/2 sash within a moulded round-headed surround are flanked by 2 tall 2/2 sashes in moulded surrounds, with 5 similar smaller sashes on the top storey. A later 2-storey wing to the left has 6 windows arranged 3:3, with plinth, first-floor sill band and moulded eaves, containing 6 large 2/2 sashes to the ground floor and 6 smaller sashes above. Beyond this is a 4-window single-storey range with similar sashes. The east front has an irregular 8-window arrangement (2:3:3), with the right section rising to 4 storeys. Quoins, plinth, bands and a moulded cornice with plain parapet (partly rendered) articulate the elevation. The left section has two 2/2 sashes to the lower two floors and 2 narrow 4/4 sashes above. The central section features a central doorway with ashlar surround and above it 2 single 2/2 windows in a continuous vertical panel; either side are 3-storey canted bay windows with similar sashes, the upper bays added in the late 19th century. The right section contains 3 round-arched openings to the ground floor, 3 cross casements above, 3 further 2/2 sashes above these, and 3 smaller similar sashes on the top storey.

The interior reveals sections of the original 16th-century building surviving encased within later additions. Surviving features include 3-foot-thick original walling, exposed wall studding in the basement, doorways with depressed arched lintels and chamfered and stopped surrounds (some re-used), and concealed mullion windows. Original plasterwork to the first-floor principal room includes an encased beam with rolled mouldings. The second floor has blocked 4-light mullioned and transomed windows (now concealed). Flues have been removed. An early 18th-century staircase rises from the entrance corridor, and the kitchen fireplace is also probably early 18th-century in date. Later features include a 19th-century bow window to the ground-floor office, positioned to overlook the corridor.

Until recently it was believed that the 1572 building was demolished in 1670. The original building is reputed to have been one of several houses belonging to the Earl of Shrewsbury used to imprison Mary Queen of Scots. Later notable guests included Celia Fiennes, who visited in 1697.