Description: Exterior view of the Old Hall Hotel, Buxton, looking across to the Crescent. The Old Hall is the oldest building in lower Buxton. In 1573 the Earl of Shrewsbury built the first proper accommodation over The Spring (now the site of the Old Hall Hotel). Mary, Queen of Scots, made a number of visits between 1573 and 1584 to 'take the cure' during her captivity. The hotel was built in 1670 and enlarged in the 18th century. The Crescent was built between 1780 and 1784 by John Carr of York for the 5th Duke of Devonshire. The Duke paid £120000 (paid from profits of the Duke's copper mine at Ecton). The Crescent, consciously modelled on that of Bath, was built 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, 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.