Connaught Drill Hall (Ta Centre)

The Connaught Drill Hall, also known as the TA Centre, is a Territorial Army drill hall built in 1901 by A. Bone. It was damaged in 1941 during an air raid and was partly rebuilt after the Second World War. The building is constructed of stock brick with bands of red brick and some Portland stone dressings, featuring a red brick rebuilt front with concrete dressings and a sheet steel roof.

The drill hall has a large rectangular plan, with a range of offices at the south front and on the west side. Originally, there was a tower on the southwest corner, but this and the south offices were destroyed in the air raid and were rebuilt after the War without the tower. The building is designed in a Tudor style.

The exterior includes a rebuilt two-storey embattled and curved south front, which steps back at the left southwest corner. The three-storey range on the west side projects forward on the right and features an embattled parapet, tall sash windows with glazing bars, and stone lintels and cills. The first floor is corbelled out to the right and has a round corner turret on the left northwest corner, complete with an arrow-loop and corbelled castellation. The rear north gable of the drill hall has corbelled verges, a large four-light Diocletian window, and a splayed left northeast corner with a stepped parapet. The east side of the drill hall features six very tall segmental-headed windows with replaced glazing, and the second window from the left has a segmental arch doorway below with a stepped string course above.

Inside, the large drill hall has a seven-bay arched braced-girder steel roof, with the spandrels of the trusses filled with circles. The braced-girder purlins and truss posts are inscribed with 'H. Handyside and Co. Ltd., Derby and London'. There are galleries on the south and west sides of the hall supported by iron brackets and featuring iron balustrades. The offices on the south and west sides include one on the first floor of the west side that has cable-moulding to the dado.