York Historic Environment Record

House, now 2 shops and flat. Front range probably C16, raised in C17; parallel range added at rear in C17; early C19 alterations, rear extensions and refronting; early C20 shopfronts; further alterations, partial demolition and rebuilding of rear extensions c1970 and 1980.

MATERIALS: front range and first extension timber-framed, refronted in red brick in Flemish bond, with timber eaves cornice on paired brackets; slate roof with brick end stacks. Surviving rear extension of mottled brick in stretcher bond with pantile roof.

EXTERIOR: 3-storey 2-window front. Shopfront of paired plate glass windows between small-pane glazed doors with leaded fanlights, beneath massive concave cornice incorporating blind boxes; original 'rising sun' fanlight survives to No.72, radial-glazed replacement to No.70. First floor windows are shallow bows in reeded frames with plain friezes with angle roundels beneath plain cornices, and 12-pane centre sashes. On second floor, unequal 9-pane sashes with painted stone sills and flat arches of gauged brick. At left end of eaves cornice, fluted inverted bell-shaped rainwater head.

INTERIOR: of No.70. Ground floor of C19 extension has late C19 cast-iron fire grate in plain painted stone surround with moulded cornice shelf. First floor: front room has reeded door and window surrounds with roundel angle blocks, and similar painted stone fire surround with plain shelf. Close string staircase to attic with stick balusters, turned newel and ramped-up moulded handrail. Second floor: c1700 3-panel door reused beneath staircase; 6-panel doors to front and back rooms. Front room has moulded Art Nouveau fire surround. Attic: C17 grooved panelled doors to front rooms. Access to No.72 not possible. RCHM record staircase with moulded rail, plank string and square balusters. Two Carron fire grates, a basket grate in first floor back room decorated with musical instruments, medallions of doves, scrolls and rabbits in a plain surround; a hob grate decorated with Prince of Wales feathers. Attic front room has fireplace with reeded and moulded surround, pulvinated reeded frieze, cornice and shaped mantelshelf. Exposed timber-framing and studding in rear and left partition walls. (City of York: RCHME: South-west of the Ouse: HMSO: 1972: 80).
Listing NGR: SE5990851636

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

House, Nos. 70, 72, includes in the front range remnants of a two-storey, late 15th to early 16th-century timber-framed house; a third storey and attics were added in the 17th century. A middle range is of the 16th century, and a block to the N. is of the early 19th century. The property was refronted to Micklegate c. 1823, when the house was empty for part of the year and the assessment was raised (Rate Books of St. Martincum-Gregory). Over a long period from 1802 the premises were occupied by Christopher Simpson, a saddler, but parts of the property were sublet. In 1825, when Simpson mortgaged the freehold, he was stated to have recently converted the former tenements into one house (YCA, E.95, f. 262; E.97, f. 213v.).

The street front is of fine dull red brick with markedly thin mortar joints; the two shops on the ground floor are modern. The two first-floor bow windows have moulded framing with moulded paterae, plain friezes and simple cornices. At the W. end is a contemporary moulded and fluted rainwater head. At the back, the original range has been engulfed in later heightening and early 19th-century additions. A three-storey block standing forward from the rest, in very poor condition, is in stucco-dressed brickwork and has sash windows to all three storeys; the four-storey block to the E. is in large common brickwork of the early 19th century. All the roofs are tiled.

No. 70 has no internal features of interest at the ground floor. The S. first-floor room was refitted in the Regency period, only the boxed transverse beam remaining of the earlier building. The Staircase of c. 1800–10 has a moulded rail, plank string, turned newels and square balusters. The commonrafter roof includes a large number of reused timbers.

Inside No. 72, the Staircase has a moulded rail, plank string and square balusters. On the first floor, in the room in the N. Range is a fireplace with a plain surround with moulded architrave containing a basket grate, signed Carron, which has on each jamb an oval containing a pair of doves between musical instruments, and, on the cheek pieces, scrolls and rabbits. To S. Is the staircase in which the stair landing has a minute cornice of palmettes, of c. 1810. In the attics, a large room to the S. Contains a fireplace with a reeded and moulded surround, a pulvinated reeded frieze, a cornice and shaped mantelshelf all of c. 1810–20. The N. Building contains a Carron cast-iron hobgrate decorated with the Prince of Wales badge etc. In the centre block, timber construction partly visible in the W. Wall comprises a cambered tie-beam with straight studs above and below, with some brick-on-edge infilling. The N. Room in the front block has a N. Wall of fragmentary timber-framing and brickwork, with a 19th-century sash window. Parts of the original structural timber exposed include, in the W. Wall, a tie-beam some 1½ ft. Above floor level which has a large oak brace morticed into it toward the N.W. End where there is a post with enlarged head into which the N. Wall-plate fits. Above the wall-plate, the N. Wall is of timber and brickwork of the early 19th century.

Derived from RCHME - 'Secular Buildings: Micklegate', in An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in City of York, Volume 3, South west (London, 1972). pp.80. Monument 74

Information derived from the NMR

Numbers 70 and 72 Micklegate. A timber framed house originally built in the late 15th century or early 16th century. The remains of that period are incorporated in a rebuild of circa 1823. The house is mainly brick. It comprises 3 storeys plus attic. The fenestration isas follows: 2 shallow bow windows and 2 sash windows above. There is an eaves cornice on paired brackets. The roof is tiled. Modern shop fronts have been added. The interior has some good early 19th century features including staircases and fireplaces, and retains some exposed timber-framing of the earlier building.

Full description
1. 5343 MICKLEGATE (north side) Nos 70 and 72
SE 5951 NE 15/347 14.6.54 Grade II*
2. Circa 1823 and later refronting of an earlier building. The front
portion embodies the remains of a late C15 or early C16
2-storey timber-framed house. Brick; 3 storeys plus attic; 2
shallow bow windows and 2 sash windows above; eaves cornice on
paired brackets; tiles. Modern shop fronts. Interior has some
good early C19 features including staircases and fireplaces, and
retains some exposed timber-framing of the earlier building.

(RCHM Vol III, Monument 74) (1)
Situated at SE 5991 5164. (2)

Sources
1 List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest DOE(HHR) City of York N Yorks June 1983 212
2 Ordnance Survey Map 1:250, 1962

613515 Architectural Survey Investigation by RCHME/EH Architectural Survey
BF060820 70-72 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.