York Historic Environment Record

YORK SE5950NW THE MOUNT 1112-1/24/1100 (North West side) 01/07/68 Elm Bank Hotel GV II* House, now hotel. c1870; remodelled 1898 for Sidney Leetham by WG and AJ Penty, with internal decoration by George Walton. C20 alterations. White brick in Flemish bond with ashlar dressings; hipped slate roofs generally, with wide eaves on shaped brackets; pyramidal lead roof with tapering finial to tower; brick stacks, some truncated. EXTERIOR: entrance front: 2 storeys, 5 bays. Central bay breaks forward and projects further as 1-storey Doric porch of paired detached columns and entablature with dentilled cornice. Doors are panelled with square-pane overlight in keyed round-arched architrave between paired pilasters. Windows are largely 1-pane sashes with 4-pane secondary glazing and have cambered brick arches and stone sills. Raised moulded first floor band encircles building. Front to The Mount: 2 storeys, 5 bays; centre bays project as 1-storey 3-window segmental bow forming balcony to first floor. Windows are square-headed and separated by pilasters supporting entablature and pierced parapet. Flanking windows altered to casements: on first floor they repeat those on entrance front. Rear has 4-storey extruded tower with rusticated stone ground floor. French window on first floor and two round headed sash windows on second floor have cantilevered balconies with heavy balustrades. Top floor has round-arched sash windows to each face, those on two opposed faces separated by external stacks. INTERIOR: represents the only extensive example of Art Nouveau decor in York and is one of the finest and most complete surviving in England. It was illustrated in 'The Studio' in 1901. Stairhall and principal ground floor rooms are panelled and decorated with wall and ceiling paintings and stencils. One fireplace has marble overmantel inlaid with glass and ceramics. The 2-storey stairhall has a stencilled barrel vaulted ceiling with original pendant light fitting: staircase with turned balusters leads to first floor gallery. Many windows incorporate original stained glass. HISTORICAL NOTE: George Walton worked in Glasgow and was a contemporary of Charles Rennie Mackintosh. One of the pioneers of Art Nouveau, his work at Elm Bank is some of his earliest outside Scotland. Between 1898 and 1902, he worked from premises in York at No.21 Stonegate (qv). (RCHME: City of York: London: 1972-: CIV; Moon K: George Walton: Designer and Architect: Oxford: 1993-: 63-70). Listing NGR: SE5925650917