York Historic Environment Record

YORK SE6052SW MINSTER YARD 1112-1/13/704 (North East side) 14/06/54 No.1 Gray's Court and garden gates and piers attached to south-east corner (Formerly Listed as: MINSTER YARD No.1 and gate piers and gates. Gray's Court and gate piers and gates) GV I House of the Treasurers of York Minster; attached double gates, gate piers and railings to garden: now higher education college. Early C18 subdivision of Treasurer's House (qv) and remodelling incorporating fragments of C12 and C14 houses; gallery range extension c1742; further extension and alteration 1845-6; extensive restoration, remodelling and extension c1900. Mid C18 extension for Dr Jacques Sterne; 1845-6 work by JB and W Atkinson and restoration by Temple Moore c1900 for members of the Gray family. Garden gates and railings 1902 re-using late C18 gate piers. MATERIALS: gallery range of red brick in various bonds incorporating colonnade of limestone columns blocked with pink-grey brick: limestone porch has weatherboarded first floor. Wing ground floor of coursed magnesian limestone, garden side buttressed in brick; first floor on courtyard side of red and orange-grey brick in English garden-wall bond, garden side in orange brick in random bond. On garden side, limestone ground floor extends across end of gallery range below first floor of orange brick in English garden-wall bond. Mid C19 extension of pink-grey brick in English garden-wall bond; cottage extension in red brick. Gallery range extension towards Minster Yard is stuccoed. Timber guttering on block brackets to garden side of gallery range end bay, wing, and extension. All roofs of slate with brick stacks. Garden gates and railings of cast-iron, gate piers of sandstone ashlar. EXTERIOR: Entrance Front: 3-storey 6-bay gallery range; to right, 3-storey 3-bay projecting wing. Blocking of colonnade of re-used C12 columns forms blind arcade of shallow 4-centred arches, each containing 2-light Yorkshire sash beneath flat arch of brick. Right of centre bay has 2-storey projecting porch containing C19 battened panel door: first floor jettied over detached squat Doric columns has gabled 5-light casement window, centre lights rising into round-arched head beneath moulded cornice. First floor windows on each side are 2-, 3- and 4-light timber mullioned and transomed casements incorporating panes of painted glass. Second floor windows are 12-pane sashes, some retaining original glazing. 2-course raised brick band to second floor. Bold moulded timber eaves cornice discontinued at left end where eaves rise to half a shaped gable abutting rear of Treasurer's House. Centre bay to wing is pedimented and projects. To right is glazed and panelled door beneath flat porch: 2x4-pane Yorkshire sash window with segmental brick arch on first floor, squat 6-pane sash on second floor. Left end bay has 2x6-pane casement window on ground floor, blind storeys above. Centre bay has segment-headed 2x6-pane casement window on ground floor. Above is 2-storey canted oriel window with moulded and modillioned cornice and unequal sashes, centre one round-arched and radial glazed in moulded and keyed surround. Gallery Range Extension towards Minster Yard: basement and 2 storeys; 4-window front, left part projecting. Steps to right lead up to glazed and panelled front door in doorcase of Corinthian columns, entablature and broken pediment with bust in tympanum. To left is basement door of 6 raised and fielded panels with divided overlight: elsewhere in basement three unequal 6-pane sash windows. Ground floor windows are square latticed casements with timber mullions and transoms, of 4-lights to left of door, of 2 lights further left. On first floor are two 16-pane sash windows with painted sills. Stone steps have plain railings and handrail. Garden Front: 3-storey gallery end bay between dwarf buttresses with 2-storey 5-window wing to left; to right is 3-storey 3-window bow front to extension; further right 2-storey 3-bay cottage extension. Entrance on first floor of gallery bay by means of glazed and panelled double doors with lozenge glazing bars, approached by flight of steps: timber cornice and brick pediment over door. Second floor has two unequal 6-pane sash windows. T-shaped staircase bowed at landing level has moulded steps and copings, balustrade of stick railings and arabesque panels and flat handrail swept out at the foot of both flights on shaped curtail steps. Wing to left has two slit windows and deeply recessed cross window inserted between re-used moulded jambs and beneath tooled lintel on ground floor. First floor windows are tall sashes, irregularly disposed. Moulded first floor stone string continues as 2-course raised brick band. Extension: paired small 12-pane pivoting windows on ground floor: on first floor, three tall 2x4-pane lights with wrought-iron window guards, continuous lintel and sill band: on second floor, tripled 12-pane sashes with lintels and sills. All have vertically tooled sills and lintels. Cottage has 4-panel door with narrow 8-pane sash to left, blocked window to right: on first floor, two 12-pane sashes: all have cambered brick arches and windows have stone sills. INTERIOR: not fully inspected. Gallery range, ground floor: re-used columns are cylindrical, with original moulded bases, some restored. Inner wall of C12 masonry contains single chamfered round-headed window and incorporates bands of chip-carved paterae. Hall lined with square panelling, some original. Staircase to first floor has dado of raised panelling and newels carved in relief with fruit and floral drops. First floor: gallery lined with panelling as on ground floor; two fireplaces and two broken pedimented doorcases with foliate friezes; inner wall contains window and carved bands as ground floor, and corbel table at wall head. Bow fronted room to garden has elaborate fireplace with caryatid jambs, frieze of classical figures and fine Art Nouveau grate. Room at opposite end of gallery lined with re-used C17 panelling; fireplace has 4-centred head. Wing, ground floor: exposed moulded beams, including one set diagonally. Staircase with close string and turned balusters rises to first floor. First floor: Sterne Room has carved doorcase with foliate frieze and dentilled cornice overdoor; skirting and window architraves also carved; ornate fireplace carved with fruit and flower swags and drops includes portrait medallion of Princess Augusta: coved ceiling panelled in plaster enclosed in guilloche surround. STAINED GLASS: in staircase window and long gallery, some probably by Henry Gyles; also window by JW Knowles. SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: square section gate piers, approximately 4 metres high, have sunk panel sides with a low relief swag in the head; moulded cornices enriched with egg-and-dart support demi lions rampant. Railings raised on low stone wall with cambered coping: double gates supported by cylindrical gate posts with ball finials. Railings and gate bars are of square section: railings incorporate trefoil headed panels. HISTORICAL NOTE: garden gate piers were removed from the Minster front of Treasurer's House (qv) by Frank Green in 1902 and presented to Edwin Gray of Gray's Court. They were possibly erected originally by Miss Ann Clapham, whose crest the lions may be, during her occupancy of Treasurer's House between c1815 and 1833. (City of York: RCHME: The Central Area: HMSO: 1981-: 69-76). Listing NGR: SE6040452297