Date set for Buxton Museum to go under the hammer at auction

Derbyshire County Council has appointed SDL Auctioneers to sell the property at auction it has been announced today( Thursday November 28) that the building will be sold off at the end of January 2025 and a ‘For Sale By Auction’ sign will go up this week outside the venue.

Council leader and cabinet member for strategic leadership, culture, tourism and climate change Councillor Barry Lewis said: “We remain absolutely committed to providing a museum and art gallery in Buxton and this is an opportunity to take a fresh look at the museum offer. “As the building goes on the market, we’re pleased to be at the stage where we have found somewhere we think may be suitable.

“If the outcome of the feasibility study is positive, we will give more details.”

Buxton Museum and Art Gallery in Peak Buildings, Terrace Road, closed to the public in June 2023 as a precautionary measure as parts of the building were potentially identified as being unsafe.

Although initially it was a temporary closure, a decision to permanently relocate the museum from Peak Buildings was announced in May.

Buxton Museum and Art Gallery has been housed in Peak Buildings for nearly 100 years.

In 1928, the first floor was opened as the town’s public library with the ground floor occupied by the museum.

Until its closure to the public in June 2023, BMAG was still using some of the original display cases.

More than 5,000 Buxton residents and businesses signed a petition to keep the museum in the town which was presented to the county council in the summer.

Since the announcement that the relocation was necessary, Derbyshire County Council has been working to identify suitable alternative premises to house the collections and re-open the museum and art gallery to the public in a new location in the town.

Working with partners, a number of potential locations have been identified over the past few months, and a feasibility study is now underway to assess what it could cost to convert one of the sites identified into an accessible, modern museum and art gallery space.

The results of the feasibility study and whether a suitable conversion is possible and affordable will be known in the next few months, says the council.

If the outcome is positive, then details will be made public and a decision will be made on whether this is the most suitable location for the new museum.

Museum staff are continuing with the complex task of packing away the thousands of artefacts and artworks housed at the museum.

Some items will go into safe storage until a new museum home is found and others will be displayed in alternative venues, including Buxton Library, from where staff will be working temporarily.

Councillor Lewis added: “Our aim is to get the museum re-opened in a new location as soon as we can.

“We’re involving key partners and interested groups in our discussions as we continue to make progress.”

Staff are aiming to move all the museum collections from Peak Buildings by early 2025 and the building auction is scheduled for Thursday January, 30 2025.