York Historic Environment Record

Town house. Early C18; raised to 3 full storeys c1822; further alterations and extensions at rear in late C19. For Charles and Frances Bathurst.

MATERIALS: front of orange-brown brick in Flemish bond on stone plinth, with timber doorcase and modillion cornice, returning at right end; rear of reddish brick in English garden-wall bond, with timber eaves cornice, part on paired brackets. Brick stacks to slate roof. Iron railings on low stone plinth. Central entrance hall plan with service wing at right rear.

EXTERIOR: 3-storey 5-bay front, the centre bay breaking forward above the doorcase. Stone steps to Doric doorcase of engaged fluted columns and entablature; panelled door and patterned radial fanlight recessed in panelled reveal within round-arched architrave with moulded imposts. Windows are sashes, of 18 panes on ground and first floors, 9 panes on second floor, all with flat arches of gauged brick and painted stone sills. Shutters of 8 raised and fielded panels survive on ground floor. Painted bands of 3 raised brick courses at first and second floor levels. At each end of eaves cornice are elaborate rainwater heads bearing the initials CBF above square section fallpipes with clamps stamped with the Bathurst crest, a hand clasping a serpent. Rear: 3 storeys, 2 windows, with 1-storey closet wing projecting to right, and 2-storey service wing to left. Central doorway beneath segmental arch has grooved-panel and margin-glazed door. Round-headed staircase window beneath gauged brick arch. 3-course raised brick band at first floor level returns along wing. At rear of wing is a fluted bowl rainwater head. Right return: 3-storey gable wall to front range, with 2-storey 6-bay service wing to right. Stone plinth and raised first floor band continue from front. Inserted round-arched doorway of painted gauged brick with moulded stone imposts and hoodmould in gable wall. Windows altered but traces of earlier openings with segmental brick arches survive. Service wing has 6-panel door and divided overlight towards right end. Windows are 12-pane sashes, those on ground floor in enlarged openings with flat arches, those on first floor with cambered arches. Moulded eaves cornice and fluted bowl rainwater head at right end, over fallpipe with fleur-de-lys clamps.

INTERIOR: in basement, a length of medieval wall supporting later brick vaulting is exposed. Ground floor: pedimented doorcase on each side of entrance hall; plasterwork cornice and oval ceiling panel. Room to left subdivided by elliptical arch, now blocked but visible to rear; in front part, moulded cornice and reeded window architraves with angle blocks survive. Room to right has reeded doorcase with paterae, reeded window architraves with angle blocks and grooved panelled reveals with sunk roundels at angles; fluted cornice interspersed with paterae and late C19 ceiling rose in moulded surround. Stairhall arch is round with fluted keyblock, on fielded panel responds with moulded imposts. To left of stairhall are two doorcases with sunk panel jambs and angle roundels; to right, moulded round arch, with giant keyblock, on plain pilasters with moulded imposts, closed by margin-glazed door, leads to service passage. Cornice to stairhall arch returns above doorcase to left and service passage arch to right. Service passage has bold cornice and 8-panel doors re-used in C19 architraves. Bottom flight of secondary staircase with moulded string, boxed-in balusters, square newels and flat moulded handrail is located in service wing. Open string main staircase with double spiral balusters alternating with two fluted turned balusters and moulded, serpentine handrail, wreathed at foot around turned fluted newel on shaped curtail step. Corresponding fielded dado panelling swept up to fluted half newels. Round-headed staircase window, of which bottom sash is original, has keyed moulded and enriched arch on fluted composite pilasters with panelled pedestals. Stairwell ceiling is coved over enriched dentil cornice with plasterwork centre panel enclosing quatrefoil centrepiece. First floor landing ceiling has diamond shaped centrepiece with pomegranates enclosed in rectangular surround. First floor: landing doors are of 8 raised and fielded panels. Moulded and keyed round arch on sunk panelled pilasters leads to first floor passage. Both front rooms have reeded window architraves with angle blocks. Former saloon to right has reeded doorcase with paterae, and window reveals of grooved panelling; plaster cornice; frieze and ceiling probably of embossed paper, in Rococo design. Front left room has reeded cornice and window reveals of fielded panelling. Rear right room retains two walls lined with full height raised and fielded panelling, and bolection moulded fireplace with overmantel panel. Rear left room has reeded cornice and window with fielded panelled reveal. Secondary staircase rises from first floor passage to second floor, with one attached column
half baluster visible. SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: square section railings and standards with mace finials, swept round to entrance steps and at each end. From 1872-79, the house was used as offices for a District Goods Manager of the North Eastern Railway Company. (City of York: RCHME: South-west of the Ouse: HMSO: 1972-: 83).
Listing NGR: SE5987351610

Derived from English Heritage LB download dated: 22/08/2005

Bathurst House, No. 86, one of the finest houses in Micklegate, was built in the early years of the 18th century. The site was that which, c. 1230, had belonged to Agnes, first wife of Nicholas de Bugthorp, and was later granted by him to maintain a canon for ever in the Priory of Healaugh Park, under the description 'between the lane next St. Gregory's church and the house of William son of Agnes, and from Myclegate to North-street' (YASRS, xcii for 1935 (1936), 155–6, 161). Drake (280) describes it as 'Charles Bathurst's house newly built at Gregory [Barker] Lane end', and it appears on John Cossins's plan of c. 1727, when it belonged to Charles Bathurst, then High Sheriff of Yorkshire. That the house is earlier than this is proved by the survival of rainwater pipes bearing the Bathurst crest with heads on which are the letters C.F.B., evidently for Charles Bathurst, father of the High Sheriff, and his wife Frances, both of whom died in the first six months of 1724 (Davies, 167). The younger Bathurst never married and died in 1743, after which the house was occupied for a time by the Hon. Abstrupus Danby (Borthwick Inst., Rate Books of St. Martin-cumGregory; cf. Davies, 139). The house was regarded as of considerable importance, since it was individually marked, not only upon Cossins's plan, but also on John Haynes's prospect of York of 1731. By 1752 the property had passed to Henry Masterman senior, who advertised it to let as '4 rooms below and 5 chambers above, with 5 good garrets, a kitchen, washhouse, laundry, large cellars, garden, 2 coach-houses, stable for 9 horses' (York Courant, 9 Oct. 1753).

Originally of two storeys with attics, the latter lit by three dormer windows as shown in the view on Cossins's plan, the house was heightened to a full third storey c. 1820–5 (probably early in the occupancy of Mrs. Lucy Willey, who appears in the Rate Books from 1818 to 1839; in 1823 the assessment was raised from £16 to £17). At the same period various interior fittings were replaced in Regency style. Later extensions and alterations were made to the service wing at the rear, some of the work being done in 1873 for the North-Eastern Railway, which owned the premises in 1872–9 and converted them into offices for the District Goods Manager, Southern Division (Title Deeds; information from British Transport Historical Records, York).

The property, after the death of Henry Masterman senior in 1769, descended through his son, Henry Masterman junior, to Henrietta Masterman who married Sir Mark Masterman Sykes. After passing through several occupations, including that of William Cadday (d. 1806), Sheriff of York in 1797–8 (Skaife MS.), the house was sold by the Sykes for £1350 in 1813 to Mrs. Elizabeth Richardson (YCA, E.96, f. 214), and soon afterwards resold to Mrs. Lucy Willey, who occupied the house herself until 1838. It was later the home of the Misses Sandys (1838–49), of William Frederick Rawdon (1850–5), and of Caleb Williams, surgeon, who died in 1871. After the period of occupation as railway offices it again became a surgeon's residence from 1879 to 1909; from 1911 to 1921 it was the Central Hotel and thereafter for almost 40 years the York Y.W.C.A. It is now the property of York University (Title Deeds; Rate Books; Directories).

The street front (Fig. 57) is in good quality red Flemishbonded brickwork, the upper storey being of slightly larger bricks. When the upper storey was added, the original rain water heads and cornice were re-employed and matching lengths of fall pipes were inserted. Most of the architectural features are plainly shown in Plate 175. The Roman Doric surround to the entrance is of the second half of the 18th century, but the glazed doors are modern. In the windows, narrow glazing bars replace the originals, which presumably were thicker. Above the entrance, the narrow central bay breaks forward some 3 in., the upper part being slightly widened at the head of the central window. To E. And W. Are large lead rainwater heads (Plate 81) decorated with cherubs' heads and initials, 'B' above, 'C' and 'F' below; the fall pipes of square section have brackets enriched with the Bathurst crest.

The E. Side elevation to Barker Lane has a flat-topped gable, in part with ashlar coping. The good quality red brickwork of the front is returned about the S.E. Angle and the first-floor band is continuous. A side entrance has a semicircular gauged brick arch and painted stone imposts. There is evidence in the brickwork of changes in the fenestration.

The rear elevation, three storeys high, has a small closet wing to the W. And the service wing to the E. A brick band again occurs at first-floor level, and at the wall head is an early 19th-century cornice with simple paired brackets. The most noticeable feature is the large staircase window with a semicircular head turned in gauged bricks. Inside, the entrance hall, with simple plaster ceiling and cornice, has inserted doorways with pedimented doorcases of c. 1840 in the E. And W. Walls. To N. Is a round-headed archway with wood panelled responds and soffit and a fluted key-block; it opens to the stair hall.

On the ground floor (Fig. 58), most of the fittings in the S.E. Room are in the Regency style. The window casing has linear decoration; the N. Door-case has a reeded surround with paterae at the angles though the door itself is early 18th-century. The W. Doorway and fireplace are Victorian. The Staircase (Plates 82, 84) has an open string, swept oak handrail terminating at the foot above a fluted newel post, and turned balusters (Fig. 17h) mostly three to a tread. The balusters, with pierced twisted shafts alternating with two fluted shafts, are further elaborated with pedestals which, in York, are unusual for the multiplicity of mouldings. The oak dado has fielded panels. The asymmetry of the surround to the large staircase window to fit the rise on the turn of the stair is also unusual (Plate 90). The ceiling over the staircase itself has a heavily moulded and enriched plaster cornice with a cove above rising to a square panel with quatrefoil centrepiece; that over the first-floor landing has an enriched geometrical design with the Bathurst crest in the middle. This same landing has a round-headed archway with flanking panelled pilasters and a key-block in the E. Wall and, in the other walls, doorways with simple architraves and doors of six ovolo-moulded fielded panels.

The Saloon windows and the N. Doorway have reeded or fluted architraves with paterae at the angles all in Regency style, but the doorway contains a reused early 18th-century door of eight fielded panels. The fireplace is modern. The ceiling is decorated in Adam style, probably in embossed paper, with a round panel in the middle surrounded by delicate swags of husks and florets. The N.E. Room contains some early 18th century panelling on the E. Wall and in the S.E. Angle the fireplace survives from the original fittings.

Information derived from RCHME - 'Secular Buildings: Micklegate', in An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in City of York, Volume 3, South west (London, 1972), pp. 68-96. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/york/vol3/pp68-96 [accessed 6 April 2017].

The assessment of significance in this report finds that Bathurst House is one of the most important houses on Micklegate and is most significant for its early use of Georgian architecture and retention of a number of Georgian and Regency architectural features and fittings. It also has strong historical connections with dignitaries such as Charles Bathurst, High Sheriff of Yorkshire. The property is a prominent structure on the street scene being at the corner of Micklegate and Barker Lane and it makes a strong positive contribution to the character and appearance of the conservation area. The service wing to the rear is less significant when compared to the main house due to the greater extent of Victorian and modern extensions and internal change to plan form with associated widespread loss of historical fixtures, fittings and character. The modern extensions and detached garden building/workshop to the rear of the garden and internal modern changes have a significance that ranges from neutral to detrimental/intrusive. - Humble Heritage Heritage Statement.

NMR Information
A house built in the early 18th century. It is of brick with 3 storeys. The upper storey was added between 1820-1825. In the late 19th century the building was used as an office. The building has a stone plinth and bands at the first and second floors. There are ranges of 5 sash windows. The original railings are also extant outside the house.

Full description
1. 5343 MICKLEGATE (north side)
No 86 (Bathust House) SE 5951 NE 15.349 14.6.54
Grade II*
2. Early C18. Later additions. Brick; 3 storeys, the upper storey added circa 1820-5; stone plinth and bands at 1st and 2nd floors; 5 sash windows with flat brick arches with central in a slightly projecting bay; good centre doorcase of engaged fluted columns supporting full Doric entablature and with semi-circular radial fanlight; later door with steps up; modillion eaves cornice; at each side are large rainwater heads decorated with cherubs' heads and initial B with C and F below, and the down-pipe clamps decorated with the Bathurst crest of a clasped hand holding a serpent. East elevation to Barker Lane, with 2-storey rear wing, has 5 windows overall, a semi-circular headed doorway in stone surround, and a flat-topped gable to main building. Interior mainly Regency but retains good early C18 staircase. (RCHM Vol III, Monument 80)

1. 5343 MICKLEGATE (north side)
Forecourt railings to No 86 (Bathurst House)
SE 5991 NE 15/943 14.6.54
Grade II*
2. Early C18. Good wrought iron railings to right and left of doorway
with curved returns at centre and sides. (1)

Situated at SE 59875162. (2)
Sources
1 List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest DOE(HHR) City of York, N.Yorks, June 1983, 213-214
2 Ordnance Survey Map 1:2500, 1962

613515 Architectural Survey Investigation by RCHME/EH Architectural Survey
BF060827 BATHURST HOUSE, YORK File of material relating to a site or building. This material has not yet been fully catalogued

RCHME, 1972, RCHME City of York Volume III South-west of the Ouse (Monograph). SYO64.

Humble Heritage, 2018, Bathurst House, 86 Micklegate HER ST (Unpublished document). SYO2129.

NMR, 2019, NMR data (Digital archive). SYO2214.