Description: The main part of the Hospital was originally built as stables for the Crescent. In 1785-90, John Carr built the Great Stables for The Crescent, to houses 100 horses. Later, in 1859, the Great Stables were converted into the Devonshire Royal Hospital, 'for the use of the sick poor'. The architect was the 6th Duke of Devonshire's architect, H Currey. In 1881 Robert Rippon Duke designed one of the most notable architectural pieces of the town - a huge slate dome to cover the central courtyard. The dome weighs 560 tons and spans 145 feet. At the time it was the largest unsupported dome in the world, and to this day is still the largest of its kind in the country. The building closed as a hospital in 2001, and is now owned by the University of Derby. The picture here shows the Annex to the hospital in the Crescent. The Crescent, consciously modelled on that of Bath, was built for the Duke between 1780 and 1784 by John Carr, out of locally quarried gritstone, and included a ballroom and an Assembly Room as well as a town house for the Duke and shops along the ground floor. It displays a magnificent face that is 240 feet in length and bears the coat of arms of the Duke of Devonshire at its centre. The eastern end of the building shown here used by the Hospital, contains an entrance to the Crescent Hotel and the old thermal baths which were built in 1854 and now houses the modern Cavendish shopping arcade. The Crescent is a Grade 1 Listed Building, which currently has proposed plans for its restoration.