York Historic Environment Record

Late C15 front range, part demolished in 1966; rear wing added c1600; front roof altered and jetties cut back in early C18; late C19 remodelling and shopfront.

MATERIALS: both parts timber-framed, originally with wall tile infill, encased partly in brick later; front of stuccoed brick with painted dressings and raised vermiculated quoins; rendered rear range; pantile roofs. 2-bay front range, parallel to street, with 4-bay rear extension.

EXTERIOR: 3-storey 3-window front. Shopfront framed in panelled pilasters with Tudor flower roundels, and dentilled cornice between gableted frieze blocks enriched with foliar motifs, over coved and fluted brackets carved in high relief with acanthus leaves. Upstairs entrance door of 4 sunk panels with shaped overlight to right of C20 shop window and door. On first floor, central 3-light canted bay window with dentilled cornice: flanking windows and those on second floor are 1-pane sashes in shouldered architraves with moulded sills on shaped brackets. Eaves frieze band enriched with Tudor flower roundels.

INTERIOR: timber-frame survives intact in both parts of building, except at front, and includes framed winder stair in rear wing: studded cross walls and partitions on both floors of both ranges, and massive chimney stack visible on first and second floors. Front range has roughly chamfered original floor joists. Rear range: wide fireplace and side oven beneath segmental timber lintel on ground floor. On first floor, fireplace with set-pot stone; at rear, reset C17 panelling. Front range roof has three crown post trusses with clasped purlins, purlin braces and longitudinal braces. Rear wing roof has four collar trusses on jowled posts with sole pieces, side purlins and longitudinal braces. (City of York: RCHME: South-west of the Ouse: HMSO: 1972-: 72-73).
Listing NGR: SE6007551614

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


Nos. 17, 19, 21, was originally timber-framed, of three storeys with two jetties to the street and none to the back. It is of the late 15th century, and may have been of double width with a second gabled roof to the back. Parts of the timber-framed structure remain in situ, some being exposed on the second floor with the infilling between the timbers placed against pegs. The roof, despite later alterations, gives enough evidence for a reconstruction of the mediaeval framing. The floors are all original and have rough-chamfered joists.

In the 16th century an annexe was added at the back, the panels of the framing being filled with brick on edge with the mortar let into grooves cut in the timbers. Behind No. 21 a wing was added c. 1600, now of four bays but originally longer; it has semi-attics with principal rafters rising from short sole-pieces instead of tie-beams to allow uninterrupted access to the whole floor (cf. Nos. 16, 18, 111 Micklegate). Remodelling of the original house in the same period included the construction of an enriched plaster ceiling on the first floor of No. 17, with panels containing fleurs-de-lis. There are also remains of early 17th-century panelling. In the first half of the 18th century a staircase was inserted in the 16th-century annexe and the houses were given a new front in one vertical plane, some windows retaining the sashes of this date; at the same time the roof pitch was lowered. Early in the 19th century, No. 21 was refaced in stucco and refenestrated, moulded stucco architraves being applied and a bay window added. Shop fronts were inserted and re-arrangements made at ground floor in the late 19th century. In 1792 No. 17 belonged to James Hilton, limner (d. 1814), and Thomas Hilton, painter (d. 1793) (YCA, E.95, f. 119), and passed to Thomas's widow, Mrs. Mary Hilton (d. 1833); the painters' business was carried on as Messrs. Beadle and Perfect. By 1828 the house was occupied by Joseph Perfect & Sons, painters; and by Henry Perfect, painter and paperhanger, from 1837 until 1889, when it became a butcher's shop (YCL, St. John's Rate Books; Directories). No. 21 became a grocer's shop early in the 19th century, and later a restaurant.

The ground floor of No. 17 has been greatly altered by conversion to business premises. A small room to E. Is painted throughout, probably the work of the craftsmen painters who occupied the premises c. 1779–1889; the work is probably of the late 19th century, but is of two dates, the panels being outlined with papier-mâché borders overlying painted arabesques and the end panels having painted paper over earlier bolder painting.

The late 15th-century roof, of oak, has been modified and its slope reduced. The crown posts, originally carrying a collar-purlin and collar, have been converted to king posts by removing the collars and utilising the collar-purlin as a ridge. The main cross braces are retained, though one of each pair has been shortened to carry the side-purlins. The raking struts affixed to the purlins and the foot of the brace (supporting the purlins) are reused, being secured by nails, but the mortices for their original housings are still visible in the braces.

No. 17 demolished 1966.

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. Monument 59.

Information derived from NMR

BF060798 17-21 MICKLEGATE, YORK

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

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