Records from Tutbury Priory show that trading had begun on Derby's Market place at least as far back as the 12th century. By the 13th century the area was thriving, with many shops and stalls springing up. As the years progressed many fine buildings were erected, including a guildhall, assembly rooms and a number of very handsome houses, including the Duke of Newcastle's townhouse in which the historic figure of Bonnie Prince Charlie stayed on his ill-fated march to London. This was later demolished to make way for the current Assembly Rooms building, itself a replacement for the 17th century original which was destroyed by fire in the 1960s.
The area has undergone many changes in appearance over the centuries and today features buildings from many different eras and tastes. Turning on the spot in the market place one is able to trace a history of architecture from the 17th century all the way up to 2008.
The Assembly Rooms, an example of 20th century Brutalist architecture, suffered a fire in 2014 and has been closed since. Opinions have been divided over what should become of this divisive building. Many claim that, even it was repaired it would no longer be fit for purpose. The fact that a new events venue is being constructed in the city would seem to make the Assembly Rooms redundant regardless. it seems likely that it will be demolished in the near future and there is a possible plan for a new theatre to be built on the site, a collaboration between the council and the University
Although markets are no longer held on the site, the Market Place is still used for public entertainments & celebrations as well as more solemn events such as the annual Remembrance Day parade. The war memorial (above) was erected here in 1923 & was designed by Charles Clayton Thompson and carved by A G Walker ARA.

The Assembly Rooms

The current Assembly Rooms is actually the 3rd incarnation to have existed in the city. The first was a small building somewhere on Full Street which opened in 1714. Most large towns would have had a building such as this in the 18th century and they were used for social events such as balls. This period in Derby saw a growing social scene with many members of the gentry and aristocracy having large houses in the town. As a result, it wasn’t long before the Assembly Room was considered too small and was replaced by a much grander affair in 1763. Built on land donated by the Duke of Devonshire on the edge of the Market Place, it was designed by renowned local architect Joseph Pickford and contained a ball room for 400 people as well as a supper room. This beautiful building survived until it was damaged by fire in 1963. It was subsequently demolished although the façade was preserved and now stands at the Crich Tramway Village
The replacement was the building we see today which opened in 1977. Built in the Brutalist style of architecture it was designed by Hugh Casson and Neville Conder. Over the years it has hosted performances of all kinds of music, ballet, opera, exhibitions and festivals. In 2014 it was damaged by a fire which broke out in the plant room and has never reopened. With the city now seeing the construction of a much larger purpose built concert venue, the Assembly Rooms no longer has a role to play and there are plans in place for it to be demolished later this year

This fine house was erected in 1696 by the Franceys family who had originally moved to the area as butchers in 1582 but later became highly successful apothecaries. Their ground floor store survived on the premises until 1971. The house once had ornate interiors, fine joinery and frescoed ceilings and, outside were ornamental pleasure grounds with a small lake and summer house.Largely unnoticed by shoppers walking past, it was divided into shops many years ago and it's interiors removed. One of the ceilings could be seen in the Assembly Rooms, hopefully this will survive the demolition and find a suitable new home

There has been a guildhall in the market place since at least Medieval times, although it has been replaced many times. Indeed from the 16th century it stood on a different part of the Market Place and incorporated the town prison on the ground floor and a large room on the upper floor for use by the Corporation.
This structure was replaced in 1730 by a brick and stone building which stood until 1828. it was in this year that the town improvement act necessitated the moving of the guildhall to its current site within the Market Place itself.
The building of 1828 was built in the Classical Style to the designs of Matthew Habershon and cost £7000. It featured a large four columned Ionic portico with a pediment above with a large coach arch beneath giving access to the recently completed Market Hall. Sadly this incarnation of the hall was to have only a short life as it was severely damaged by fire on October 21st1841.
The result was that the interior and façade were completely redesigned by Duesbury and Lee in 1842 who removed the portico and added the square clock tower topped with a cupola and weather vane which can still be seen today. The ground floor still retains the archway which leads to a cobbled way, flanked by cast iron columns. These can be seen painted yellow in the accompanying photo (below), unfortunately in a recent redecoration they have now been painted white and are a lot less pleasing to the eye.
Either side of the tower are panels of relief sculpture by John Bell. These represent on one side judicial proceedings and on the other municipal, the two fundamental uses of the building when it was built and until it was superseded by the Council House in 1954.

The building now houses a small art gallery on the first floor, whilst the rest of the building forms the small but very beautiful Guildhall theatre
Unfortunately the whole building has been closed for a refurbishment for a couple of years and I am not sure when it will reopen. The attached Victorian Market Hall to the rear has been undergoing a multi million pound restoration which is due to be completed in 2024 so hopefully the Guildhall may reopen to coincide with this

The Quad is the newest building on the Market Place, opening in September 2008 and brings the architecture of the area right up to date. Designed by award-winning architects Feilden Clegg Bradley and costing £11.2 million, the building provides a venue for contemporary art and cinema.
Housing three cinemas, an art gallery, work spaces, and a restaurant/café the building was designed to be one of five Arts Council funded focal points for contemporary art in the East Midlands.
Although typically controversial in its modernist design the building does pay homage to traditional architectural techniques being clad in a local Derby stone, one of the few buildings in the area to employ local materials.
It is rare that Derby is brave enough to carry out cutting edge designs in its buildings and despite much negative comment in the letters pages of the local newspaper during the design and building of Quad it nevertheless seems to be proving popular with the public since its opening and recently celebrated its 500,000th visitor in 2010 and over 3.5 million since it opened

This building, an early example of Art Deco architecture was built in 1925 for the company of Barlow & Taylor, as a privately owned department store with a café on the top floor. After its closure it became for many years the main branch of the Derbyshire Building Society. 2004 saw the building empty again but shortly after it was divided up and converted into a restaurant and betting shop and the upper floors converted into luxury apartments.