Montpellier Rotunda is a Grade I listed building in Montpellier, Cheltenham, England.[1] [2]
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]
Since 2017 it has housed a restaurant in The Ivy collection,[6] who undertook restoration work.[7]
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 high and across.[2]