Description: The garden front of Osmaston Hall looking north-east. This house ws commenced in 1696 for the Wilmot family but in the 1870s and 1880s both the Hall and its park were acquired by the Midland Railway. They used the western portion of the land to construct their new Carriage & Wagon Works and, although not obvious here, so close to the house did the railway tracks then come that sidings would have been present immediately to the left of the photographer. The Hall is said to have been used as offices and for storage but by the date of this view it was obviously in a poor state with broken and partly boarded windows, missing stonework, and vegetation encroaching towards the front door. Despite this it was not demolished until 1938 after the bits of the Park that were surplus to railway requirements were sold to Derby Borough Council. After World War Two most of this land was redveloped as the Ascot Drive Industrial Estate but the site of the Hall remained largely vacant until the early years of the 21st century.
This photo was taken by Derby-based postcard publisher F W Scarratt and was numbered 358 in his series. The seated woman appears to be his wife, Mary.