York Historic Environment Record

House, now two shops. Late C17, refronted in mid C18; subdivided 1812; later C19 alterations, and C20 shopfronts. Front of orange mottled brick in Flemish bond, No.102 painted, with modillion eaves cornice; slate roof with brick coped gables to front range, rear wings tiled.

EXTERIOR: 3-storey 3-window front. Late C20 shopfront to No.102. Shopfront to No.104 has panelled pilaster jambs and plain fascia with moulded capping between paired consoles crowned with segmental gablets. Glazed and panelled shop door with overlight above fluted transom interrupted by scrolled pedimented centre panel, flanked by half-canted plate glass shop windows of three arched lights on colonnettes with moulded capitals and bracketed spandrels. On first floor are two 3-light canted bay windows with 4-pane centre sashes; remaining windows are 4-pane sashes with flat arches of rubbed brick, those to No.102 painted. Rear: 3-storey centre bay flanked by gabled wings of 2 storeys and attics. Blocked round-headed first floor window in centre bay. Wing to right has 12-pane sash in gable end in blocking of earlier window, of which flat arch and square hoodmould survive. Attic window is 3-light casement in blocking of earlier window, beneath flat arch and pedimented hood. Blocked oeil-de-boeuf in gable end beneath tumbled brick coping. Moulded first floor string course.

INTERIOR: of No.104. Ground floor: chamfer-stopped spine beam exposed in original rear room: two quarter-round moulded beams to centre bay. Open string staircase rises from ground to second floor, having column on vase balusters, 2 to a tread, and serpentine handrail: some balusters on second floor landing are barley-sugar twists. First floor: doors of 8 fielded panels lead from landing. Larger front room has late C19 fireplace. Elliptical arched opening on plain pilaster jambs with moulded imposts gives access to small front room, with full height fielded panelling, moulded cornice and 6-panel door. In original rear room the chamfer-stopped spine beam survives, with 8-panel door and fielded panelled window reveal. In smaller rear room is a massive C17 cornice. Second floor: small area of C17 panelling on landing. In larger front room is a plain fireplace with basket grate having fluted side pieces and moulded cornice shelf. 3-panel plank door to back room. Original floor boards survive in various rooms throughout. Interior of No.102 not inspected. RCHM record C18 staircase with closed string, square newels and closely set turned balusters with square knops.

(City of York: RCHME: South-west of the Ouse: HMSO: 1972-: 91).
Listing NGR: SE5982551581

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


House, Nos. 102, 104, is of late 17th-century date, but in the early 18th century the main front was refenestrated. The premises were divided into two in 1812, and bay windows were inserted in the Micklegate front c. 1850. The property, with other houses adjacent (see Nos. 100, 106, (88, 90)) belonged in the mid-18th century to Isabella Stockdale. In 1817 William Stockdale Powell sold Nos. 102, 104 to Francis Calvert, cordwainer, who had been the occupant from 1812. At that time the house was divided, the rates being apportioned on assessments of £3 10s. 0d. For No. 102, and £4 10s. 0d. For No. 104. Calvert himself occupied No. 102, and let No. 104 to a series of private residents until 1834, when he made this his own residence, while No. 102 became the business premises of Calvert & Son (YCA, E.97, f. 35v.; Borthwick Inst., Holy Trinity Rate Books; Directories).

The house is of three storeys and built of brick. It runs parallel to Micklegate with a relatively long frontage. The elevation to the street has at first floor two three-sided bay windows added c. 1850, and between them a sash window with narrow rubbed brick flat arch; above these windows a brick band may have been removed. At second floor are three windows with narrow flat arches; all windows have red brick reveals. Above is a heavy modillioned cornice returned at each end (18th century). The roof, with prominent equilateral gables (late 17th century), is covered with Welsh slates.

At the back are two projecting wings, and between them the wall of the main range is faced with 18th-century brickwork in which is a blocked round-headed window. The W. Wing (Plate 54), of narrow red brick, is of two storeys and attics; at first-floor level is a moulded brick string. In the N. Gable the first floor is lit by an early 19th-century sash window, in the blocking of a late 17th-century opening with a label above a flat arch. Above is a tumbled gable having a window with a brick pediment above a flat arch, and a blocked œil-debœuf above.

Some of the interior fittings are of the 18th century. The upper part of the staircase in No. 102 has a closed string, simple square newels with attached half balusters, and closely set turned balusters with square knops, comparable with the altar rails at Holy Trinity, Goodramgate.

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.

104 Micklegate was the location of the much-missed Blake Head Bookshop and (vegetarian Cafe. It opened in the late 1980s and closed in 2013.

NMR Information
613515 Architectural Survey Investigation by RCHME/EH Architectural Survey

BF060837 102-104 MICKLEGATE, 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.

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

University of York, 2024, Excavation at 104 Micklege 'The Rattle Owl' (Unpublished document). SYO3122.