Derby Assembly Rooms
The Derby Assembly Rooms is a events venue in Derby. It was built in 1977 in the brutalist style.[1][2]
The Assembly Rooms building was designed by Hugh Casson and Neville Conder.[3] It replaced an 18th-century building of the same name that burned down.[4]
The venue has seen performances by Elton John, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Take That, the Manic Street Preachers, Tony Bennett and Frankie Laine.[1]
The building has been closed since a 2014 fire in the plant room of an adjacent multi-storey car park damaged the Assembly Rooms' ventilation system.[5] Historic England issued a Certificate of Immunity from Listing in April 2023, guaranteeing that the building would not be statutorily listed within the next five years.[6]
In October of 2023 a council-led investigation was announced into why the complex had lain unused for 10 years. A council leader commented that £20million levelling up funding awarded from April 2023 was insufficient to cover demolition and replacement with a new theatre.[7]
References
- Hawley, Zena (21 January 2021). "This is the latest on what could happen to the Assembly Rooms". Derby Telegraph. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
- "Derby Assembly Rooms and the brutalism battle". The Economist. 31 October 2020. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
- Murray, Jessica (2 May 2021). "Last-ditch bid to save Derby's postwar modernist gem from bulldozers". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
- Hurst, Will (8 April 2021). "Derby Council set to approve demolition of Brutalist landmark". Architects' Journal. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
- "Derby Assembly Rooms demolition plan moves forward". BBC News. 16 April 2021. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
- Historic England (13 April 2023). "Derby Assembly Rooms, including adjoining multi-storey car park, Market Place, Derby, DE1 3AF (Certificate of Immunity from Listing) (1475117)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
- New investigation into Derby Assembly Rooms rebuild BBC News, 19 October 2023. Retrieved 20 October 2023