A former cinema and dance hall in St Ives that later became an important studio of internationally renowned artist Dame Barbara Hepworth has been given a Grade II listing.

Hepworth bought the Palais de Danse in 1961 to use as a studio and workshop.

Here she worked on the prototypes for some of her most prestigious public commissions, including the famous ‘Single Form’ for the United Nations building in New York.

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Hepworth and a prototype of Single Form inside the Palais de Danse in 1962. Photo: Bowness

The St Ives building was originally a late 18th century stone cottage used as a navigation school in the early 19th century, before being converted into a cinema in 1910-11 and later a dance hall – known as the Palais de Danse - in 1925.

From 1939 the building was used for auctions and concerts, and it was briefly a ballet school in the Second World War.

The Palais continued to be used for dances until 1961.

Hepworth had moved from London to Carbis Bay with her husband Ben Nicholson in 1939. With her growing reputation after the war and demand for more work, she bought Trewyn studio in the centre of St Ives at an auction at the Palais de Danse in 1949.

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The main hall of the Palais de Danse which Barbara Hepworth bought in 1961. Photo: Historic England/Samantha Barnes

Comprising the outhouses and gardens of neighbouring Trewyn House, Trewyn studio (now the Barbara Hepworth Museum) was both a studio and home until Hepworth died in 1975.

But as the scale of her work increased with international exhibitions and public commissions, Hepworth sought extra space to create her large-scale pieces.

In February 1961 Hepworth bought the Palais de Danse, opposite Trewyn, and it became the backdrop to the development of several signature works. Together, the two buildings represent almost all periods in Hepworth’s personal and creative life.

To create the 21ft ‘Single Form’ for the United Nations in 1963 she laid out a 1ft-scale grid on the floor of the upper workshop of the building to work on its plaster prototype. The silhouette for the prototype and the grid survive today.

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The Palais de Danse upper workshop with the outline for Single Form. Photo: Historic England/Samantha Barnes

‘Single Form’ was Hepworth’s personal response to the death of her friend, the UN Secretary-General Dag Hammaskjöld, who was killed in a plane crash whilst on a peace mission to the Congo.

The plaster prototype for an earlier, smaller version in the series, named ‘Single Form (Memorial)’ was made upstairs in the 24-metre dance hall and the bronze stands on the shores of the lake in Battersea Park, being listed in its own right.

There are also images of the sculptor with other large-scale prototypes of her works at the Palais, including ‘Winged Figure’ standing in the yard in 1962, created for John Lewis on London’s Oxford Street and also listed.

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Winged Figure, Barbara Hepworth's sculpture on the outside of the Oxford Street John Lewis building. Photo: Historic England Archive

After Hepworth’s death on May 20, 1975, the Palais de Danse remained in the family, kept essentially as the artist left it. The building was bequeathed to Tate in 2015.

Tate St Ives is currently managing the conservation of the building and its contents, with a view to safeguarding Hepworth’s legacy and its future.

Explaining the decision of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to list the building, on the advice of Historic England, Heritage Minister Nigel Huddleston said: "Barbara Hepworth is one of the nation's most highly regarded sculptors of her generation and this listing recognises her long-lasting connection to St Ives.

"It is a fitting tribute, on the 45th anniversary of her death, to preserve the unique site where she created some of her most famous works."

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Hepworth carving in the Palais de Danse in 1961. Photo: Rosemary Mathews/Bowness

Rebecca Barrett, regional director for the south west at Historic England, said: “We are delighted that the Palais de Danse has been listed in recognition of its importance to the life and work of Dame Barbara Hepworth and to the artistic tradition in St Ives.

"The Palais is a rare survival of a creative space left largely undisturbed since the artist’s death and provides a unique insight into Hepworth’s creative process.

"Listing celebrates the building’s special qualities and ensures any future changes respect them.”