The Crescent
Built in 1780 to the designs of John Carr, the Crescent was the first ‘resort’ hotel in Britain and was at the heart of Buxton’s aspirations to become a fashionable spa town.
Originally, the Crescent was built to house two hotels, St Ann’s at the western and The Great Hotel at the eastern end, which boasts the magnificent Ballroom used as the main social venue of the town. John Carr’s visionary design also included seven lodging houses, built in the sweep of the Crescent between the two hotels, including a town house for the Duke of Devonshire himself. These lodging houses were designed to allow the hotels to expand towards the centre of the Crescent as the market dictated.
There were also shops beneath the covered arcade to the front of the building. With everything spa guests would need – all under one roof - the Crescent could justifiably lay claim to being Britain’s first leisure resort. The Crescent is without doubt one of the finest buildings of its kind anywhere in the world and is, as the Fifth Duke of Devonshire intended, a fitting rival to the crescents of Bath.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buxton_Crescent 