Description: The Congregational College was designed by the prolific Nottingham architect; T C Hine. Thomas Chambers Hine was born in London in 1813, the eldest son of hosiery manufacturer Jonathan Hine. In 1834, Hine completed his architecture training in London and moved to Nottingham. In 1848, he won a national competition to design a pair of agricultural workers' cottages and published a monograph (MS 575/3) containing a specification and designs for them. Important commissions followed including the Nottingham Corn Exchange (1849-1850) in Thurland Street, a factory for Hine and Mundella Ltd (1851) in Station Street, and the rebuilding of Ogston Hall, Derbyshire (1851-1864) and Flintham Hall, Nottinghamshire (1851-1857). Hine was as versatile as he was prolific and applied a variety of styles to the many houses, hospitals, schools, churches and railway stations that he designed in the East Midlands. Hine's later projects included the rebuilding and renovation of the castle, shire hall, and courts in Nottingham. He was in partnerships with William Patterson in the 1830s and 1840s, Robert Evans until 1867, and finally, his son George Thomas Hine. T.C. Hine was also an enthusiastic building conservationist, lecturer on archaeology and architecture, and was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1876. He died in Nottingham in 1899.The building was later used by the Institute for the Deaf.