Houses: De Grey Street-Heslington Road

De Grey Street

De Grey Street was 'newly set out' in 1847 (YG 26/6/1847); it does not appear in the 1846 Directory.

(99) Houses, Nos. 5–11, 25–28, were built c. 1849. They are of two storeys with basements and attics. The doorcases have pilaster jambs with sunk panels, and simple entablatures with modillioned cornices. Demolished.

Eldon Street

(100) Nos. 39–51 (odd) and 92–102 (even) Lowther Street are 13 two-storey houses of one build erected in the 1840s (Plate 103).

Fawcett Street

(101) The Woolpack, p.h., is a three-storey house built c. 1845. The front elevation is of two bays with a simple entrance and a large three-light sash window beneath an arch of gauged brick to the ground floor.

Fishergate (Monuments 102–105)

Fishergate is a continuation of Piccadilly southwards outside the walls. The site of the Augustinian Priory of St. Andrew (5), which stood on the W. side of Fishergate, is now covered by factory premises. Redevelopment on a large scale began c. 1830; modern houses were being advertised for sale in 1831 (YG 19/2/1831).

E. side

(102) House, No. 29, until 1972 the nunnery of the Sisters of St. Vincent, was built in the late 18th century. It was acquired by the Sisters in the late 19th century and in 1902 a large wing was added to the S. for a day nursery; this is now disused.

The house (Plate 94) is of two storeys with a five-bay front, the middle three bays projecting slightly under a pediment. At the first floor is a stuccoed band and at the eaves a timber cornice with dentils. The central doorway is flanked by reeded columns carrying an entablature over a semicircular fanlight. The windows have cemented surrounds, not original, and in the pediment is an oval dummy window. To the N. a single-storey projection with a blind window was built probably as a screen wall only; a balancing projection to the S. has been removed but original openings in the S. wall indicate that the wing of 1902 replaced an earlier structure.

The house is built on a simple plan with front and back rooms each side of a central hall, the back part of the hall containing the staircase. This has an open string and iron balusters of square section, alternately straight and undulating, carrying a shallow, veneered handrail. Inside the staircase window is mounted a second casement glazed with a collection of coloured quarries, flashed and patterned, of c. 1830, probably by one of the Barnett family of York glaziers, and made up at some later date to fit its present position.

(103) No. 33 is a two-storey detached house with an asymmetrical four-bay main elevation built in the first quarter of the 19th century. The windows and the fanlight over the entrance have triangular heads and glazing bars forming geometrical patterns (Plate 101). W. side:

(104) Houses, Nos. 16–40 (even), all date from c. 1830. Nos. 30 and 32 are of three storeys and the others of two only. Nos. 16–28 have doorways with reeded columns or flat pilasters. Nos. 18 and 20 form a pair and Nos. 22–28 a range of four with an open passageway through the centre. Nos. 34–40 are a range of four; their upper windows have painted lintels simulating arches, with markedly bowed soffits.

(105) Fishergate House (Plates 99, 128) was built in 1837 for Thomas Laycock Esq. to the designs of J. B. and W. Atkinson; it cost £4,500. Drawings preserved in the office of Messrs. Brierley, Leckenby and Keighley include a plan dated 1837, not exactly as built, another plan of the ground floor also dated 1837 marked 'now erecting', corresponding almost exactly to the existing house, and a plan for the first floor dated 1840 marked 'erected'. The house forms a solid rectangular block mostly of two storeys but partly of three, faced with white brickwork, with two low wings to N.E. and N.W. enclosing a service courtyard. The elaborate design of the central light-well is remarkable. The plan appears to be derived from Sir John Soane's plan for Tyringham (Stroud, Plate 97).

The E. front is divided into three unequal bays by brick pilasters with simple stone capitals. The central porch has Ionic columns in antis. The fenestration was originally all in two storeys although the staff rooms inside to the N. were arranged in three storeys. The windows have been altered to correspond with the internal arrangement. The S. side has the lower storey masked by a modern addition, only one round-headed window being visible; on the first floor three flat-headed windows are flanked by round-headed recesses. The W. elevation is divided by pilasters matching those to the E., with the central part projecting. Some additional windows have been put in the ground floor. On the S. side three round-headed windows in a central projection light the staircase. The roof rises from widely projecting eaves to a central flat surrounded by a stone balustrade with a chimney-stack at each corner, and enclosing a lantern light. The service wings, which include stables and coach-house, are built of red brick; the coach-house has two segmental-arched openings, now blocked, and the windows in the range opposite are set in corresponding segmental-arched recesses.

The entrance hall has arched recesses in the side walls, some containing doorways, and a ceiling decorated with raised mouldings and rosettes (Plate 128). The inner hall has in the centre an oval opening in the ceiling to admit top light from the lantern above (Plate 128); to N. and S. are vaulted spaces with niches in the W. wall. The principal rooms on the ground floor are sub-divided by modern partitions and only one fireplace remains, having a mantelshelf carried on shaped and carved brackets. The staircase to the N. has thin cantilevered treads and iron balustrading; it rises in two flights with a segmental landing, opening between columns with scrolled and foliated capitals to a further small landing lit by round-headed windows (Plate 128).

On the first floor there is an arcaded gallery (Plate 129) around the central light-well, which is surrounded by modern iron balustrading. Eight bedrooms and dressing-rooms have moulded plaster cornices but fireplace surrounds have all been removed.

The service quarters in the N.E. part of the main block are in three storeys served by a back staircase rising round an open well and having close strings, square balusters and turned newels. The two wings enclosing the courtyard have been much altered internally in conversion to offices.

Foss Bank

(106) Houses, Nos. 4, 5, are a two-storey pair built c. 1840. The window openings have segmental arches.

Fulford Road (Monuments 107–116)

Unless otherwise described Monuments 107–116 are of two storeys.

(107) Fulford Conservative Club, built c. 1810, is a detached house with symmetrical front elevation. The doorway has fluted pilasters and an open pediment.

(108) Nos. 196, 198, are a pair of three-storey terrace houses built in the second quarter of the 19th century. The window openings have cambered arches.

Grange Garth

(109) Fulford Grange, off the Fulford Road and 200 yds. S. of (105), is a house mainly of c. 1830–40 but which incorporates a building of the late 18th century. It has been added to in modern times and divided into three parts, known as The Grange, No. 37 Grange Garth, and The Croft.

The front part of the house, to the E., is of two storeys built in white brick. The E. façade, of five bays, has a central doorway with an Ionic porch; to the S. is a semicircular projecting bay. The staircase in the middle of this part has an iron balustrade (Plate 131) and many of the openings have symmetrically moulded architraves butting against square blocks at the angles (Plate iii), typical of the period. The middle part of the building, with its principal elevation to the S., is of three storeys, built in red brick of the late 18th century. It may have formed the service wing of an earlier house; it has been much altered but retains some late 18th-century fittings. On the S. front is an entrance doorway with a good 18th-century timber pilastered door-case with fluted architrave (Plate 107), probably not in its original position. Further W. is a lower extension contemporary with the E. part of the house, with a modern addition behind.

(110) No. 2, was built c. 1835 as a lodge to The Grange (109). It is of one storey and built in white brick with ashlar dressings (Plate 101).

(111) No. 32, is a cottage with Gothic details built c. 1840 on part of the Grange estate. The door and window openings have two-centred arched heads and the glazing bars are in the form of tracery (Plate 101).

Love Lane

(112) Lilac House has been formed from a narrow range of three cottages, of which two are perhaps pre-1850.

(113) New Walk Orchard, cottage at 60394978, is a two-storey building incorporating a small earlier building, probably of the late 18th century, of one storey with brick walls and a low-pitched single-slope roof.

St. Oswald's Road

(114) No. 3, is a two-bay detached house built c. 1840–50. The shorter side faces the road and additions have been made to the W. and E. The windows have rusticated arched stone lintels.

(115) House, No. 10, built c. 1840–50, is similar to No. 3, with a two-bay front facing the road and a gabled wing at the rear projecting to the E., but is all of one build.

(116) House, No. 20, also built c. 1840–50, is detached and double-fronted but with the original central doorway now blocked.

Gillygate (Monuments 117–140)

Gillygate lies along the outside of the City Wall to the N.W. It takes its name from the church of St. Giles which stood at the N. end of the street. The church had disappeared by the 17th century, though the churchyard was then still in use for burials. Houses were being built in Gillygate in the 12th century.

N.W. side

(117) Houses, Nos. 3, 5, form a symmetrical pair four storeys high, built in 1797 by Thomas Wolstenholme, carver (1759–1812), whose decoration modelled in a plastic composition is to be found on fireplaces and doorways, etc. in many York houses (YGS Report 1969, 37–45). Wolstenholme occupied No. 3 himself and the property remained in the hands of the Wolstenholme family until 1887.

The original, very elegant, front elevation has been sadly mutilated; it was symmetrical with the two front doors together and central blind windows above. To each side was a matching tier of elaborate windows shown complete in a photograph of c. 1880. On the ground floor, where there are now shop windows, were shallow segmental bays each of three lights under round arches. The segmental form was continued to the first floor where square-headed windows were divided by attached columns with a shallow entablature above and a balustraded apron below. The second-floor windows did not project; each was of three round-headed lights with cornices above. The top storey has semicircular windows divided into three lights by timber mullions. At the eaves No. 3 retains the original timber cornice with coupled brackets. The back has plain hung-sash windows, many of which have been altered.

Inside, the ground floor has been stripped of its original fittings. The staircases have open strings with shaped ends to the treads with leaf decoration; in section the balusters form hollow-sided squares.

The fittings throughout the upper part of the house are mostly original and enriched with applied decoration. Bay windows are framed by pilasters enriched with reeding and garlands, with a frieze above enriched with anthemion ornament. Principal doorways have side pilasters with floral trails between bands of reeding and overdoors enriched with urns and garlands (Plate 110). Decorated segmental panels are incorporated into these overdoors or used elsewhere as isolated units over doors (Plate 112). In other places the architrave is enlarged to form similar panels over doorheads. Similar segmental panels also appear over fireplaces. Throughout both houses the surviving fireplace surrounds are enriched with reeding, foliage, urns and garlands (Plate 115), even the plainest, in the top back bedroom, having enriched shelves and modelled masks on the frieze. Many of the fireplaces retain the original iron grates.

(118) No. 9 is a three-storey single-fronted town house with two windows on both upper floors, built c. 1800. The ground floor was converted to shop premises c. 1900. The roof is pantiled.

(119) Houses, Nos. 11, 13, are of the early 19th century. They are both of three storeys and have pantiled roofs. No. 13 has been much altered.

(120) Houses, Nos. 19, 21, are of the early 19th century. They are of three storeys and have a modern uniform elevational treatment. No. 19 has been much altered on ground and first floors and has a pantiled roof. No. 21 is only one bay wide.

(121) Houses, Nos. 23, 25, of two storeys with stuccoed walls and pantiled roof, were built in the 18th century as a single dwelling. The building was remodelled c. 1800; bay windows were added, new entrances with reeded columns and open pediments to the doorcases were formed (Plate 108), and a second staircase was put in.

(122) Nos. 59, 61, of two storeys may have been built as one house but are now two properties with two shop fronts to the ground floor. No. 59 retains an original doorway. Early 19th-century.

(123) House, No. 65, of two storeys, has a moulded door-case with paterae in the angles and a pantiled roof. Early 19th-century.

(124) Nos. 67, 69, are a pair of two-storey single-fronted houses designed symmetrically with a single central chimney-stack. The doorcases have reeded architraves. Early 19th-century.

(125) Houses, Nos. 71, 73, built c. 1835, are a three-storey pair forming a symmetrical composition with paired entrances, with decorated frieze and reeded jambs, in the centre. The ground-floor windows have segmental arches.

The entrance to each house is to a through passage widened at the back to accommodate a staircase which has slender turned balusters and newels. The fireplaces have reeded surrounds.

S.E. side

(126) House, No. 12, three storeys high and five bays wide, was built in the first half of the 18th century but was largely refitted late in the same century. At the beginning of the 19th century the front was modified when the windows of the top storey were reduced in number from five to three. The ground floor is now occupied by modern shops.

The front is built in red brick with a projecting band of five courses over the first-floor windows. The central doorway retains the original moulded timber architrave and dentilled cornice carried on console brackets. The house is L-shaped on plan with a central entrance and staircase between two front rooms, and a back wing containing two rooms.

(127) House, Nos. 16, 18, 20, was built in the early 18th century, two storeys high on an L-shaped plan with a long seven-bay range facing the street and a rear wing at the S.W. end. Early in the 19th century a third storey was added so that the roof is now continuous with that of No. 12, the N.E. part was enlarged at the back, and the whole was divided into two dwellings. Joseph Halfpenny, the York artist, lived here from 1803 till his death in 1811 (YCA, E96, f. 15v; Deeds; J. W. Knowles, York Artists, 1, p. 199). On the front modern shops occupy the whole of the bottom storey. The first floor is of 18th-century brick with seven hung-sash windows under 19th-century lintels.

Inside, some plaster cornices and rehung doors are the only 18th-century fittings. Two 19th-century staircases have open strings and slender turned balusters (Plate 127).

(128) Houses, Nos. 26, 28 (Plate 96), were built in 1769 by Robert Clough, bricklayer and master builder of York, and the first occupants, in 1770, were Francis Smyth Esq. and Col. Robert Prescott. The houses were very well finished; notable among the fittings is the ceiling to the first-floor saloon in No. 28, probably executed by Robert Clough III, plasterer and son of the builder, baptised 1736. The front windows have been reglazed with large plate-glass panes and a shop front has been inserted in No. 26. The houses are not of equal size. No. 26 occupies three bays and No. 28 four bays. The original entrance to No. 28 remains (Plate 107), and at the side of it is a contemporary extinguisher. At the back round-headed windows light the staircases of both houses, and both have a small projecting closet wing, three storeys high (Plate 93).

Inside, No. 26 has lost many of its ground-floor fittings in conversion to a shop but the original staircase remains. On the first floor many of the fittings were replaced in the mid 19th century but an original fireplace remains. Throughout the house there are good 18th-century ceiling cornices. In No. 28 one of the front rooms on the ground floor and the saloon above have ceilings decorated with rococo plasterwork (Plate 119). Over the staircase the ceiling has a roundel with Gothic cusping (Plate 120). Amongst the fireplaces (Plate 114) are later insertions by Thomas Wolstenholme; one includes a figure panel which also appears in overdoors at Bootham Lodge (57) and Garrow Hill (147). Some of the rooms have enriched ceiling cornices (Plate 122). The staircase is original and has turned balusters with large plain umbrella-shaped knops (Plate 125). See also figs. 8f, 9b.

(129) House, Nos. 38, 40, was built in the late 18th century, probably c. 1787, this date having appeared on a pump formerly in the back yard. It has been altered by the conversion of the ground floor to shops. The house is of two storeys, rectangular on plan with four rooms disposed about a central entrance passage widening to a staircase at the back. Some of the rooms retain original cornices, simply moulded.

(130) Houses, Nos. 42, 44, are a three-storey pair with pantiled roof, built in the early 19th century.

(131) Nos. 50, 52 were built as a two-storey house in the 18th century. A third storey was added later and the whole has been very much altered.

(132) House, No. 58, is a very small two-storey building now converted to a shop; it is probably of 18th-century date.

(133) No. 62, is a house of the late 19th century but it has a small two-storey wing at the back of late 18th-century date, much altered.

(134) No. 64 was built at the end of the 17th or the beginning of the 18th century as a small two-storey house which probably had two rooms on each floor and a small projection at the back for a staircase. In the late 18th century the depth of the house was increased by the addition of rooms at the back under a second span roof parallel to the original. Later the two roofs were incorporated into one and the central valley eliminated. The front has been stuccoed and completely modernised but retains a rainwater head dated 1770. The wooden frame of a staircase window remains in the original back projection.

(135) No. 66 was built probably in the third quarter of the 18th century as a two-storey house with front and back rooms on one side of a through passage. A third storey was added in the early 19th century together with a back wing, and the door-case to the entrance, with reeded pilasters, is also of this date.

(136) House, Nos. 68, 68a, was built in the late 18th century; it is of two storeys and was originally four bays wide but the front has been completely altered with shop fronts below and new windows above. The original plan was L-shaped but the re-entrant angle has been filled in, and the interior much altered.

(137) House, No. 70, was built c. 1770, of two storeys with a four-bay elevation to the front (Plate 96). It is generally similar to (136) above, but has not been so drastically altered. The original L-shaped plan provided two front rooms flanking the entrance passage and one small room and the staircase projecting at the back (Plate 92).

(138) House, No. 82, was built in the late 18th century. It is of three storeys, two bays wide, and with a projecting wing at the back. The ground floor has been converted to a shop.

(139) Nos. 84, 86, a pair of small houses of three storeys and attics, were built before 1823 by which time No. 84 was occupied by John Ware, yeoman, who remained there as John Ware, gent., until 1832 or later (Directories; title deeds of No. 84, York Town Clerk's Office, File 2604/3).

The front elevation of the pair was originally symmetrical. At the centre of the composition and covering the dividing line between the houses there is a blind recess to each of the upper floors; these and the upper floor windows have segmental arches. No. 84 has a pantiled roof.

(140) House, Nos. 88, 90, was built c. 1735. John Carr, yeoman, purchased the property in 1733 and his will dated 1738 refers to his 'newly erected dwelling house'. The house was drastically remodelled c. 1795. A kitchen was added at the back in 1829 and further alterations took place in the second quarter of the 19th century when part was converted to a shop and the entrance was refitted to match the new shop front.

The house has two storeys, cellars and attics and the original plan comprised a single room on each side of the entrance hall which contained the staircase. The staircase is of the late 18th century with close string, turned balusters and square newels. Demolished 1958.

Haxby Road (Monuments 141–143)

Monuments 141–143 are of two storeys.

(141) The Punch Bowl Hotel and Houses, Nos. 2–12 (even), were called Clarence Place in 1850 (OS) and some or all of them were built by 1838 (Directory).

The Punch Bowl Hotel is possibly a remodelling of two of the houses in Clarence Place on the 1852 OS map but has been altered out of recognition. Nos. 2 and 4 form a pair, but No. 2 i now incorporated into the hotel. The doorways together form a unified composition with three fluted pilasters with Ionic capitals and a frieze with paterae and incised fret ornament. No. 2 has a segmental bow window with similar frieze to the ground floor. Nos. 6, 8, 10 have bay windows with canted sides which are probably additions. No. 12 is a double-fronted terraced house of three and a half bays, with the main doorway in the middle and a smaller service door at the N.E. end. There are bay windows with canted sides on the ground floor.

(142) No. 44 is a double-fronted house of the early 19th century but all the openings have been modernised. It was called Stray Cottage on the 1852 OS map.

(143) Asylum Cottage is a small double-fronted house of the early 19th century. The central doorway has pilasters with sunk panels and the window openings plastered arches simulating rusticated ashlar.

Heslington Road (Monuments 144–147)

(144) Nos. 11–45, 49–51a (odd) and 1 Apollo Street, are small two-storey houses built in pairs and threes to form an irregular line of terrace development, dating from c. 1845. Nos. 11–27 form a straight range of houses. Some pairs have central passageways or carriageways to the rear and some have modern shop fronts or added bay windows. Nos. 29 and 31 have pantiled roofs.

(145) Belle Vue House, a villa decorated in Gothic style, was built in the 19th century before 1838 (Plate 104). It was the home of William Abbey Plows, sculptor and stone and marble merchant who had works at Foss Bridge in Walmgate. Plows bought the site in 1833 and it is probable that the house was built for him shortly after that date and that the carved stone decoration came from his own workshop. Plows sold the house in 1852 and it changed hands several times thereafter before it was acquired in 1879 for The Retreat to form a part of the villa system of treatment of patients in separate houses. The upper part of the house was pulled down in 1935 and the S. wing has been removed but the lower parts of the walls of the main part have been retained to enclose a swimming pool. The upper storey was castellated (YC 25/7/1839) and appears faintly on N. Whittock's view of the City of c. 1858; photographs of the house before alteration are preserved at The Retreat. A lodge, similar in style to the main house, was demolished in 1971 (Directories; Deeds and Annual Reports, York Retreat).

The main part of the house consisted of a rectangular block with octagonal turrets terminating the front elevation which is built in white brick with stone dressings. In the middle of this front is a porch with rectangular stone piers carrying stone lintels carved with triple ogee arches cusped and enriched with ivy trails. The piers have capitals carved with figure subjects. The arched decoration is repeated over the windows, and a string course is enriched with dog-tooth ornament.

Plows offered the house for sale in 1846 when it was described as having a basement providing dry cellarage; on the ground floor, breakfast room, dining room, drawing room opening into a vinery, and two kitchens; a stone staircase with bronzed iron balustrade of the vine pattern and a secondary servants' staircase; upstairs, four principal bedrooms, two dressing rooms and three servants' bedrooms. The dressing rooms were supplied with soft water, and a water closet and a bath were provided. The grounds were formally decorated with urns and figure sculpture; the only garden ornaments now remaining are three carved stone capitals 'removed from Carlton Palace [Carlton House, London] on the demolition of that splendid building' (YC, 25/7/1839; YG, 15/9/1846; OS 1852).

(146) Cottage, No. 103, was built in the last decade before 1850; it is marked on the OS map of 1852 as The Herdsman's Cottage. It is a small single-storey dwelling in plain brick with hung-sash windows, all much restored.

(147) Garrow Hill, Thief Lane, now a hostel for nurses of The Retreat, was built as a large private house in the early 19th century; it is probably the house occupied by Henry Bland, banker and partner in the firm of Messrs. Swann, Clough & Co., from 1828 (Directory) till his death in 1835 (YG 14/2/1835). In 1836 Thomas Barstow was living there, having moved from Blossom Street, and the house remained in his family till 1927. The house has been somewhat altered externally with the addition of a large bay window on the E. side and the alteration of some of the windows to take modern casements in place of the original hung-sashes. Internally some of the rooms have been sub-divided but many of the original high quality fittings remain.

The house is of two storeys with walls of white brick and low-pitched roofs covered with slates. The main part of the house is a large rectangular block built round a central hall, lit from a lantern projecting above the main roofs (Plate 129). The entrance on the N. front has an added porch with stone Tuscan columns and entablature. The eaves on this side are of very slight projection. On the S. side and to the E., where there are two gables, the roofs have a wide overhang supported by paired brackets. To the W. two projecting wings enclosed a courtyard. The N. wing contained the kitchen and is little altered; the courtyard has been partly roofed over to form a dining hall and the S. wing, which formerly comprised storerooms only, has been drastically altered. The staircase in the entrance hall has elaborate iron balusters (Plate 130). A number of doorcases are original and of unusual design; panels in the overdoors can be identified as being from the moulds of Thomas Wolstenholme (Plates 111, 113).