York Historic Environment Record

Workhouse, now student flats. 1848-49, renovated 1994. By JB and W Atkinson. Orange-cream brick in English garden-wall bond; slate roofs, shallow pitched and hipped with wide eaves, carried on shaped brackets over gable ends. Two parallel ranges, front one longer than the rear. EXTERIOR: front: 3 storeys, 21 windows arranged 3:2:4:3:4:2:3: alternate blocks project but are linked on ground floor by 1-storey ranges set forward so that the centre block is recessed: at each end are 5-bay wings, 1 storey to left, 3 storeys to right. Centre block has panelled double doors beneath radial fanlight recessed in round arch of 2 orders, flanked by radial glazed sashes similarly recessed; outer 3-window blocks have 1-storey canted bay windows with French doors. Except where radial glazed sashes are indicated, windows are small pane sashes, those on first floor generally of unequal sashes. Ground and first floor window arches are segmental, except in 5-bay wings which are cambered arches on ground floor; on second floor, all arches are cambered. Centre block windows on first and second floors have a sill band; otherwise windows have stone sills, some painted, some renewed. Rear: 19 bays arranged 3:1:4:3:4:1:3, the 3 centre bays canted: to left and right of centre are 1-storey 3-bay hipped roofed outbuildings, at each end 1-storey wings. Single window bays have staircase windows at two levels, the lower segment-arched 30-pane sashes, the upper radial glazed 24-pane windows with pivoting centre sections. Otherwise fenestration in main block generally repeats that of front range. Outbuildings have 18-pane sashes with cambered arches: wing at left end has 16-pane sashes with timber lintels. Left and right returns: returns of shorter rear range are gabled over full height round-arched recess with fire door on each floor opening on to fire escape stairs. INTERIOR: not inspected. Plans for 1994 refurbishment show the survival of staircase in octagonal stairwell, apparently top lit, recorded by RCHM. (An Inventory of the Historical Monuments of the City of York: RCHME: Outside the City Walls East of the Ouse: HMSO: 1975-: 51).
Listing NGR: SE6083253035

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

NMR:

York Union Workhouse was built between 1848 and 1849 to designs by John and William Atkinson. It was renovated in 1994 and converted into student flats known as St Mary's House. The front elevation is of 3 storeys, with 21 bays arranged 3:2:4:3:4:2:3. Alternate blocks project but are linked on ground floor by 1-storey ranges set forward so that the centre block is recessed, at each end are 5-bay wings, 1 storey to the left, 3 storeys to the right.

Sources
The Workhouse: a study of Poor Law Buildings in England 95,133,159,181,212 Kathryn Morrison
List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest District of York, 14-MAR-1997

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