This pump room for the Magnesia Spring was erected by the Harrogate Improvement Commissioners in 1858.

The Chalybeate Spring beneath the Temple is believed to have been discovered by William Slingsby in 1571 and is the oldest known in Harrogate. The present cover was built from designs by Thomas Chippindale in 1807-8 and up to 1842 stood over this sulphur spring in Low Harrogate.

From 1861-1976 this site was occupied by Southfield, the home of Richard Ellis who as an Improvement Commissioner from1855-1884, as an Alderman from 1884-1895 and as Mayor from 1884-1887, gave outstanding service to Harrogate.

Born 12th June 1821. Improvement Commissioner 1870, Councillor and Alderman 1884, builder, developer, and self-made man, a loved father and respected citizen. His partnership with architect Hirst gave Harrogate many imposing buildings between 1867 & 1889, including Cambridge and Prospect Crescents, The Crown Hotel wings, Crescent Road, 2-24, and this building Vanderbilt Court, the home where he died 22nd February 1889.

This building was reconstructed in 1931 by Leonard Clarke from the New Victoria Baths, erected by the Harrogate Improvement Commissioners in 1871 and the scene of their meetings for several years. The Baths were designed by James Richardson and the Foundation stone was laid on 4th February 1871 by Richard Ellis.

Crescent Gardens derives its name from the Crescent Inn, an early 18th Century establishment known originally as ‘The Globe’ and later as ‘The Half Moon’. The discovery in 1783 of an important mineral spring brought prosperity to the Inn before its demolition in the 1890s for the construction of these gardens. Nearby once stood the Old Victoria Baths, built in 1832 by John Williams as the first purpose built baths in Harrogate. After the opening of the Improvement Commissioners’ New Victoria Baths in 1871 they became redundant and were later bought by Samson Fox for re-erection on his Grove House estate. The Eastern part of Crescent Gardens forms part of The Stray.

A few feet from this spot once stood the shop in which the notorious attempt was made by Joseph Thackwray, owner of the Crown Hotel, to divert the waters of the public sulphur spring into private control by means of the excavation of a new well. The discovery of this by Jonathan Shutt, owner of the Swan Hotel, on 1st December 1835, led to such an outcry that steps were taken not only to prosecute Thackwray but also to form a local authority with powers to protect the mineral springs and to improve the townships of Bilton – with - Harrogate and Pannal. The act of 1841 established the Improvement Commissioners who administered the Town with great ability until 1884, when Queen Victoria granted Harrogate’s incorporation as a Borough.

Established in the late 17th century as ‘The Sinking Ship’ and known in 1736 as ‘The Royal Oak’ when Blind Jack of Knaresborough played his fiddle here, the present name was adopted in 1795 in hour of the Marquis of Granby who won fame in the Seven Years War. In the 18th and early 19th centuries only the aristocracy stayed here, lesser visitors being accommodated at the Dragon Hotel (now demolished) or the Queen Hotel.

Harrogate’s first public library was opened in 1887 at Fern Villa in Princes Street. In 1903, when plans were already afoot to replace a temporary building on the present site with a new Town Hall, Mr Andrew Carnegie offered £7,500 towards the cost of the Library wing on which work began on 17th October 1904. Designed by H. T. Hare as part of a gigantic neo-baroque ‘Municipal Palace’ complete with clock tower, only the Library was built. Appropriately, it was opened on the 24th January 1906 by the Bishop of Bath and Wells, the remainder of the site being laid out as the Library Gardens. The Art Gallery was added to the upper floor in 1930.

This building, now a private residence, was built by Samuel Butler for his circuit company and opened as Harrogate’s first theatre on 1st July 1788. The cost was met by Mrs Wilks of the Granby Hotel in whose barn earlier theatrical performances had been given. The theatre closed in 1830.

This Land once formed part of the Crown Hotel estate, owned by Joseph Thackwray, who built a pump room in the Chinese style over the strong sulphur spring in 1822, admittance to the surrounding pleasure gardens being through this ticket office. The Crown Baths, built in 1834 and later known as The Montpellier Baths, were the best in Harrogate until the completion of the New Victoria Baths (now the Council Offices) in 1871. George Dawson bought the estate in 1869 and commissioned the architect J. H. Hirst to build a great new pump room. In 1888 Harrogate Corporation purchased the estate for £29,500 and launched a national competition for a magnificent new building - The Royal Baths. The Pump Room was demolished in 1954 to make way for a car park.

This building was erected in 1805 by private subscription to provide shelter and a meeting place for visitors to the Spa. At a meeting here on 6th July 1841 the newly formed Harrogate Improvement Commissioners decided to build The Royal Pump Room. Remodelled in 1875 by Arthur Hiscoe, The Old Town Hall has been variously known as The Promenade Room, The Victoria Room, and The Town Hall Theatre. Lily Langtry and Oscar Wilde were two of the many celebrities to appear here.

Prospect Square was developed between 1859 and 1880 on land once owned by the Carter family. Cambridge Crescent (N) of 1867-8 and Prospect Crescent € of 1873–80 were built by George Dawson and designed by J. H. Hirst, who also designed St Peter’s Church (NE) of 1870–6, of which the tower, designed by A. A. Gibson, was built in 1926. The Prospect Hotel (S) of 1859 was given a tower and enlarged in 1870 to a design by Perkin & son and a further rebuilding in 1937 permitted the widening of James Street. The war memorial was built in 1922-3 to a design by Prestwich & sons, the two relief panels being sculpted by Gilbert Ledward.

The Royal Baths were built from 1894-7 by London architects Baggalley and Bristowe, winners of the Harrogate Corporation completion, and opened by H. R. H. The Duke of Cambridge on 23rd July 897. The sulphur and kissingen springs beneath the building are amongst the finest in England. The major extension of 1936-9, designed by Leonard Clarke, replaced the Winter Gardens with the Lounge Hall and Fountain Court. The development of the Royal Baths occurred a few years before the building of the Royal Hall and Roundhill reservoir which together must represent an almost unparalleled example of municipal enterprise.

Dr. Edmund Deane first drew attention of the world to the strongest sulphur spring in Great Britain when he published his ‘Spadacrene Anglica’ in 1626. This Royal Pump Room was built in 1841-2 as the first act of the Harrogate Improvement Commissioners to a design by Isaac Thomas Shutt of the Swan Hotel at a cost of £2,249 0s 7d. Betty Lupton, the ‘Queen of the Wells’, dispensed the waters for decades until her death in 1843 at the age of 83. Public right access to the spring is recognised by the Stray award of 1778 and the Harrogate Act of 1841, which required the provision of an exterior public pump. The annexe was designed by Leonard Clarke and opened in 1913 by the Lord Mayor of London. The Harrogate Museum was established here in 1953, the historic sulphur spring still being open for use.

This Chalybeate spring, originally known as The Sweet Spa, was discovered in 1631 by Dr. M. Stanhope who described it in his ‘Cures without care’ of 1632. A stone covering was provided in 1656, the first Pump Room being built in 1786 by Lord Loughborough. The present building was erected by the Improvement Commissioners in 1842 to a design by I. T. Shutt, architect of The Royal Pump Room.

The old workhouse was built in 1810-11 to contain paupers formerly sent to Pannal at an annual cost to the Town of £5 per head. In use until 1858 when the new workhouse was built at Stockwell Road, Knaresborough, it was run by the parish until the Board of Guardians became established in 1854. The regime discouraged idleness by means of austerity, discipline and work. The building was restored in 1972 by Morgan, Bentley & partners, architects, for their own use.

When the Great Forest of Knaresborough was enclosed by the Act of 1770, an award dating from 19th August 1778 set aside as common land 200 acres between the ancient villages of High and Low Harrogate to protect the public right of access to the unique mineral springs and to provide exercise space for all in search of health. The award states ‘… The 200 acres shall forever hereafter remain open and unenclosed, and all persons shall and may have free access at all times to the said springs…and enjoy full and free ingress, egress and regress in, upon and over the said 200 acres…’. Grazing rights were controlled by Gateholders until the 1893 Stray Act passed control to Harrogate Corporation, whose successors administer, but do not own, this priceless public asset.

The work of the Victoria Park Company in joining the two ancient villages of High and Low Harrogate to form a modern town reached a climax in 1860 with the opening of Victoria Avenue. Two of the first developments were The Belvidere of 1861, now the College of Arts, and the Congregational Church by Lockwood and Mawson of 1861-2. The Avenue at one time had private entrance gates and the combination of wide roads and pavements, grass verges, trees and noble buildings provided an example from which future generations could obtain inspiration.

The Crown is probably the oldest of the great Low Harrogate Hotels, existing long before Joseph Thackwray became the owner in 1740. The nearness of the sulphur well and the provision of the highest standards of accommodation resulted in the small inn rapidly becoming an important hotel. In 1835 his great nephew, also named Joseph, achieved notoriety after sinking his own well close to the old sulphur well but, following a hearing at the York assizes in 1837, agreed to give up the well to public use. Lord Bryon stayed here in the autumn of 1806 and, in addition to writing the ode “To a beautiful Quaker”, was much distressed that his favourite dog had to be shot after attacking a horse. In 1939 at the outbreak of World War II, The Crown was requisitioned by the Air Ministry who remained until 1959, when it reverted to an hotel.