Palais de Danse and southern boundary wall

Palais de Danse and Southern Boundary Wall

This building began as a late 18th-century domestic dwelling before being converted into a cinema in 1910-11 and then transformed into a dance hall in 1925. Between 1961 and 1975, it served as a studio workshop and showroom for sculptor Dame Barbara Hepworth. It is now used for storage.

The building's multiple historical uses have resulted in varied phases of construction and materials. It comprises two principal sections: a hall and upper workshop to the west, and a mezzanine Conservative Room, small hall and lower workshop to the east. At the far south-east corner is an open triangular yard.

The main structure is stone and brick, rendered with incised ashlar markings and covered by a corrugated cement roof, hipped with diamond-pattern slate at the south end and topped by two louvered ventilation cupolas. The eastern structures use the same construction with render and slurried tile-hanging; they have slate, corrugated-tin and lead-sheet roof coverings, also hipped at the south end.

The west elevation along Barnoon Hill is the most visible, containing approximately seven bays running north to south with three window openings fitted with early 20th-century timber sashes on the first floor and projecting double doors altered in the 1960s. The ground floor disappears into the hill where a blocked 19th-century window is visible. The principal entrance is at the south-west corner, accessed through a canted recess with a single iron column created in the 1930s, leading to double timber doors with six-pane lights flanked by fixed panels of matching design.

The south elevation to Ayr Lane comprises two distinct sections. The eastern part is lower, defined by double doors and a single entrance door at ground level, with a large early 20th-century window at mezzanine level where the central panes are boarded, creating the impression of two horizontal windows. The western part is blind with blocked openings at ground floor. The east elevation rises to three storeys to accommodate the mezzanine and contains five irregular bays. The southern bays feature slurried tile-hanging to the mezzanine and first floor with some exposed stone visible, while the remainder is rendered. Large double timber-boarded doors set within 1960s brickwork occupy ground-floor level, with five irregularly placed window openings above containing unequal-size timber casements and sashes. The lower part of the north end of the east elevation and the north elevation are barely visible, backing onto adjacent properties.

The main dance-hall building is entered through a lobby with a staircase on the south wall, inserted in the 1920s but fitted with 1950s carpet and handrails. To the east are a small retiring room and washrooms dating from the 1950s, access to the void below the main hall stage, and a series of small rooms running north from the lobby. These rooms, used as offices during Hepworth's occupation, retain 1960s fittings, a slate floor and a glazed screen. Near the entrance on the west wall is a blocked 19th-century sash window. At the east end of the office range is the upper workshop where Hepworth created the prototype for the United Nations 'Single Form' in 1962-63; her 1-foot-scale grid and the prototype's outline remain clearly visible on the boarded floor. To the north-east is a storage space with various block and stone walls, access to a small enclosed yard, and a blocked early 20th-century window on the south wall. The north wall retains the remains of an early 20th-century staircase; this space may have originally been a green room with stairs leading behind the stage.

A covered entranceway with boarded double doors on the south-east side of the building leads from Ayr Lane into the lower workshop area. This is a double-height space, probably structurally altered around 1911 and adapted by Hepworth in the 1960s when a balcony was added; she used the space for many of her later large-scale prototypes for bronzes. The yard is accessed through double doors to the east.

The mezzanine is accessed externally from Ayr Lane via a stone staircase with match-boarded walls. This level comprises the Conservative Room, with the remainder given over to the balcony area above the lower workshop. A blocked staircase on the north wall of the Conservative Room indicates former access; the flight up to the first floor remains intact, but there is no evidence of it above.

The first floor is accessed from the staircase in the ground-floor entrance hall, leading to the 1950s refreshment and canteen area (small hall) with its contemporary corner bar on a raised platform with linoleum floor coverings, a servery to the north and brick fireplace to the west. At the far north-east are two small rooms accessed from a narrow corridor with matchboard panelling to the outer wall. A fixed 1930s sliding door is mounted on the west internal wall. To the west of the canteen is a large segmental-arch opening with sliding timber and glassine screens designed by Hepworth in 1961, opening into the main dance hall.

The dance hall measures approximately 24 metres long with five bays running north to south, plus a further bay at the north end occupied by a stage within a simple proscenium arch. The bays are defined by a boxed-in iron girder roof structure and geometrical ventilators in each bay. Three early 20th-century four-pane timber sash windows line the west wall, and a large sliding door inserted in the 1960s is at the far north end. The dance floor is sprung boarded hardwood, with pattern changes at the north and south ends. A large bevelled mirror is attached to the south wall, added during the Second World War. At the south-west corner is an enclosed 1930s projector booth reached by a cast-iron spiral staircase; the space contains mid-20th-century graffiti including drawings of ships and boats. Opposite, stairs lead up to a stepped balcony with a timber boarded floor; the balcony front has been raised. Throughout the building, wall finishes are generally rendered and painted with suspended plasterboard ceilings. Windows are timber sashes and casements of varying dates and patterns, and most doors are early to mid-20th century.

To the south-east of the building is a small yard with a cobbled stone surface, patched with late-20th-century concrete. On its south side is a rubble-stone boundary wall, probably dating from the late 19th century.