Montpellier Rotunda

Last updated

The dome from below Montpellier Spa Rotunda - geograph.org.uk - 288705.jpg
The dome from below

Montpellier Rotunda is a Grade I listed building in Montpellier, Cheltenham, England. [1] [2]

Contents

History

In 1809, Henry Thompson constructed a wooden pavilion with a colonnade as part of the wider development of the "Montpellier Spa" on land previously known as Trafalgar Field. [3] By 1817 it had been rebuilt in stone as the Montpellier Spa became increasingly popular. Thompson employed the architect George Allen Underwood, who completed the building with a statue of a crouching lion on the parapet. [4]

In 1826, Henry Thompson's son Pearson Thompson asked John Buonarotti Papworth to oversee the project and it was during this period that the dome was erected. [3] The dome is inspired by Rome's Pantheon and has almost identical proportions. [5] [4] The building was used as a pumproom, with water from local wells, and ballroom with an additional billiard room and reading room. [3] [2]

Concerts were held in the building including Jenny Lind in 1848 and the first performance of a Scherzo by local composer Gustav Holst in 1891. [2]

The Spa and surrounding gardens were purchased by the Cheltenham Borough Council in 1893. [3] The building was designated as a Grade I listed building in 1955. [2] During the 1960s the council and Lloyds Bank undertook restoration work. [3]

The Rotunda building when it housed a branch of Lloyds Bank Montpellier Spa - geograph.org.uk - 288702.jpg
The Rotunda building when it housed a branch of Lloyds Bank

Since 2017 it has housed a restaurant in The Ivy collection, [6] who undertook restoration work. [7]

Architecture

The building has limestone walls with a copper roof. [2] The front of the building has a colonnade of doric columns, a frieze of alternating square and rectangular panels and a parapet. [2] The central wooden dome in the assembly room is coffered internally and has light entering via the lantern in the centre. The room is 56 feet (17 m) high and 54 feet (16 m) across. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cheltenham</span> Town and Borough in Gloucestershire, England

Cheltenham is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort following the discovery of mineral springs in 1716, and claims to be the most complete Regency town in Britain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palace of Fine Arts</span> Monumental structure in San Francisco, California

The Palace of Fine Arts is a monumental structure located in the Marina District of San Francisco, California, originally built for the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition to exhibit works of art. It was constructed from concrete and steel, and the building was claimed to be fireproof. According to a metal plate at the rotunda, it was rebuilt under B.F. Modglin, local manager of MacDonald & Kahn, between 1964 and 1967. In the years 1973 and 1974, the columniated pylons were added. It is the only structure from the exposition that survives on site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman Baths (Bath)</span> Roman site in the city of Bath, England

The Roman Baths are well-preserved thermae in the city of Bath, Somerset, England. A temple was constructed on the site between 60 and 70 AD in the first few decades of Roman Britain. Its presence led to the development of the small Roman urban settlement known as Aquae Sulis around the site. The Roman baths—designed for public bathing—were used until the end of Roman rule in Britain in the 5th century AD. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the original Roman baths were in ruins a century later. The area around the natural springs was redeveloped several times during the Early and Late Middle Ages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rotunda (architecture)</span> Building with a circular ground plan

A rotunda is any roofed building with a circular ground plan, and sometimes covered by a dome. It may also refer to a round room within a building. The Pantheon in Rome is perhaps the most famous, and is the most influential rotunda. A band rotunda is a circular bandstand, usually with a dome.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Russell Senate Office Building</span> American government building

The Russell Senate Office Building is the oldest of the United States Senate office buildings. Designed in the Beaux-Arts architectural style, it was built from 1903 to 1908 and opened in 1909. It was named for former Senator Richard Russell Jr. from Georgia in 1972. It occupies a site north of the Capitol bounded by Constitution Avenue, First Street, Delaware Avenue, and C Street N.E.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Montpellier, Cheltenham</span>

Montpellier is a district of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire (England), at the end of the Promenade south of the town centre. Originally developed in the 1830s in conjunction with the spas, it is now known for its bars, cafés, restaurants and range of specialist shops. In April 2008 Montpellier was one of the most expensive areas in Cheltenham to buy property, with apartments ranging from £300,000 to over £1,000,000, townhouses from around £400,000, and houses over £4,000,000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Playhouse, Cheltenham</span>

Cheltenham Playhouse is a community theatre in Cheltenham, England, UK. It opened in 1945 as the Civic Playhouse and was run by the Corporation of Cheltenham; it was taken over by volunteers in 1958 who continue to run the operation as a registered charity. It is housed in the former Montpellier Baths and the building dates back to 1806/7, making it one of the two oldest surviving spa buildings in the town.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pittville</span>

Pittville is a residential suburb of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England, founded in the early 19th century by Joseph Pitt. The population of Pittville Ward at the 2011 Census was 5,327. It contains Pittville Park, with its long gardens, two lakes, boat house, three cafes, tennis courts, menagerie, children's play area, 9-hole pitch and putt golf course, and one of Cheltenham's grandest and most celebrated buildings, the Pump Room.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pittville Pump Room</span> Building

The Pittville Pump Room was the last and largest of the spa buildings to be built in Cheltenham.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Buonarotti Papworth</span> English architect, artist and a founder member of RIBA

John Buonarotti Papworth was a British architect, artist and a founder member of the Royal Institute of British Architects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cheltenham Town Hall</span> Historic building in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England

Cheltenham Town Hall is an early-20th century assembly rooms in Cheltenham, England. Unlike most town halls, it is a public venue and not the seat of the borough council, which is housed in the nearby Municipal Offices. It is a Grade II listed building.

Pearson Thompson was an English solicitor and property developer who was responsible for the layout of a great part of Cheltenham, and of the Ladbroke Estate in London. He subsequently emigrated to Australia where he practiced law.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Spa, Scarborough</span> Entertainment venue in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England

Scarborough Spa is a Grade II* listed building in South Bay, Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England. It is a venue for conferences, exhibitions, entertainment, live music and events on the Yorkshire Coast. Originally built around the source of Scarborough's spa waters, it is owned and managed by Scarborough Borough Council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cheltenham Synagogue</span> Orthodox synagogue in Cheltenham, England

The Cheltenham Synagogue is an Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located on Synagogue Lane in St James's Square of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England, in the United Kingdom. The congregation was formed in 1820 and worships in the Ashkenazi rite.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grand Pump Room</span> Historic building in the Abbey Churchyard, Bath, Somerset, England

The Grand Pump Room is a historic building in the Abbey Churchyard, Bath, Somerset, England. It is adjacent to the Roman Baths and is named because of water that is pumped into the room from the baths' hot springs. Visitors can drink the water or have other refreshments while there.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Pump Room, Harrogate</span> Local museum in North Yorkshire, England

The Royal Pump Room is a Grade II* listed building in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England. Today it houses the town's museum – operated by North Yorkshire Council. It was formerly a spa water pump house. It is located in Crown Place in the western part of Harrogate town centre, opposite the town's Valley Gardens park. It is bounded by two streets, Crescent Road and Royal Parade. Today, the Pump Room consists of both the original 1842 stone rotunda and a glazed annexe which was opened in 1913. The Pump Room offered guests of the town an all weather facility where they could drink sulphur water which was pumped on site from a natural spring known as the Old Sulphur Well. The building also had a social element to it as it provided guests with a place to meet friends and get to know others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buxton Crescent</span> Grade I listed architectural structure in the United Kingdom

Buxton Crescent is a Grade-I-listed building in the town of Buxton, Derbyshire, England. It owes much to the Royal Crescent in Bath, but has been described by the Royal Institution of British Architects as "more richly decorated and altogether more complex". It was designed by the architect John Carr of York, and built for the 5th Duke of Devonshire between 1780 and 1789. In 2020, following a multi-year restoration and redevelopment project supported by the National Heritage Memorial Fund and Derbyshire County Council, The Crescent was reopened as a 5-star spa hotel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lansdown, Cheltenham</span> Human settlement in England

Lansdown is a district of the Regency town Cheltenham Spa in Gloucestershire, England. Situated in a conservation area, much of the architecture is listed, including the distinctive Lansdown Estate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spa Pump Room, Hockley</span> Victorian building in Hockley, Essex, England

The Spa Pump Room is a Grade II listed, early Victorian building in Hockley, Essex. It was built to the designs of James Lockyer in 1842 after a medicinal spring was discovered on the site four years earlier. Short lived, the building closed as a pump room in the early 1850s and was used for other purposes thereafter, including a Baptist chapel, billiard hall, and a clothing factory; the pump room is now in private ownership.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buxton Baths</span> Listed buildings in Derbyshire, England

The Buxton Baths using natural thermal spring water are in Buxton, Derbyshire, England. The baths date back to Roman times and were the basis for developing Buxton as a Georgian and Victorian spa town. The present buildings of the Thermal Baths and the Natural Mineral Baths were opened in the 1850s. They are positioned either side of the Buxton Crescent at the foot of The Slopes in the town's Central Conservation Area. They are both Grade II listed buildings designed by Henry Currey, architect for the 7th Duke of Devonshire.

References

  1. "Montpellier Rotunda (Lloyds Bank), Cheltenham". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Montpellier Rotunda". National Heritage List for England. Historic England. Archived from the original on 12 August 2019. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Montpellier Gardens". Chletenham Council. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  4. 1 2 "Montpellier Rotunda (or Pump Room), Montpellier Spa, Cheltenham: interior view of the pump room". RIBA. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  5. "Montpellier Rotunda". Cheltenham 4 U. Archived from the original on 2 November 2009. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  6. "The Ivy Cheltenham". Archived from the original on 8 May 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
  7. Thomas, Aled (13 November 2017). "How the Ivy wants to restore Montpellier Rotunda to its Regency glory". Gloucestershire Live. Archived from the original on 16 November 2017. Retrieved 30 March 2020.

51°53′44″N2°4′57″W / 51.89556°N 2.08250°W / 51.89556; -2.08250