| Administrative History | The Great Hotel, Buxton was one of two hotels to occupy the Crescent, in Buxton, when it was first opened. The Crescent was built between 1780 and 1789 by the architect John Carr for William Cavendish (1748-1811), fifth Duke of Devonshire, who aimed to develop Buxton as a fashionable spa resort. The Crescent comprised two hotels (St Ann's Hotel at the west end, and the Great Hotel at the east end), and six lodging houses, five of which were leased, with the central one being retained by the Duke as his town house. By the time the Crescent was completed, the wars with France meant that fashionable people were unable to travel abroad so tourism in Buxton boomed. The lodging houses were incorporated into the existing hotels, with the exception of the Duke's town house, which became a separate hotel.
The Assembly Rooms at the Great Hotel consisted of the Great Ballroom and the Card Room. When they opened in 1788, a subscription cost 1 guinea for the season or for non-subscribers, 5 shillings to attend a ball and 3 shillings for the card evenings. The popularity of the Assembly Rooms diminished as the fashion for spas declined, and by 1840 there were only a handful of subscribers. Thereafter, the Assembly Rooms became the dining room of the Great Hotel.
The Great Hotel became the Crescent Hotel 1878-1935, after which it became a clinic for the treatment of rheumatism. When the National Health Service was created in 1948, it became part of the Devonshire Royal Hospital until 1966. In 1970, the east part of the building which used to be the Great Hotel was acquired by Derbyshire County Council, and Buxton Library was housed in the Assembly Rooms. St Ann's Hotel remained a hotel until the 1980s. In the early 1990s, structural problems meant that the library and council offices moved out and the Crescent became vacant. Following an extensive refurbishment, the Crescent was reopened as a hotel and spa in 2020. |
| Custodial History | This record was transferred to Derbyshire Record Office by Buxton Museum and Art Gallery in July 2024. |