York Historic Environment Record

No.28 The Adelphi Hotel Micklegate. Hotel. Mid C19; incorporating No.28 Micklegate, partly rebuilt c1810 but with earlier origins.

MATERIALS: Nos 1 and 3 George Hudson Street stuccoed, on painted stone plinth; shallow quoin strips; moulded modillioned eaves cornice of timber; slate hipped roof with ball finials, and dentil cornice stacks of brick. No.28 Micklegate of painted brick, in stretcher bond on ground floor, Flemish bond on first and second floors; modillion eaves cornice to pantile roof.

EXTERIOR: George Hudson Street front: 3 storeys 7 windows. Main entrance towards left end, with recessed panelled double doors beneath C20 canopy: at right end, recessed C20 glazed door with steps up. All windows are 4-pane sashes, to right of main entrance tripled. On first floor, window over main entrance is of three stepped round-headed lights, enclosed in shallow panel with oversize paterae in the spandrels: others recessed in architraves, those flanking 3-light window pedimented with tympanum paterae: four windows to right grouped beneath floating cornice hood. Second floor windows recessed in architraves without hoods. Moulded sill band on each floor. Micklegate front: return front of Nos 1 and 3 George Hudson Street, including canted corner bay at right, repeats main front detailing, except that first floor window of corner bay has segmental pedimented hood. No.28 has 3-storey 2-window front. Windows are sashes with painted sills: of 12 panes on ground and first floors, 9 panes on second floor. Raised first floor band continues from sill band on adjacent front.

INTERIOR: Nos 1 and 3 George Hudson Street contain no fittings of significance. No.28 Micklegate not available for inspection. RCHM record early C17 remains in rear part of No.28, including moulded beams and joists and staircase of turned balusters and square newels decorated with carved roses and thistles. The part of the building that is Nos 1 and 3 The Railway King was not listed until 21/03/96. (City of York: RCHME: South-west of the Ouse: HMSO: 1972-: 73).
Listing NGR: SE6007251682

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

Adelphi Hotel, Nos. 26, 28, comprises two separate buildings: one facing Micklegate, No. 28, known as 'The Micklegate', and the main structure along Railway Street. They have little historical or architectural merit and, in recent years, have been considerably altered. Behind No. 28 is a separate building (No. 32) of earlier date, now derelict.

The buildings formed part of a large block of property owned by the Benson family and extending N. to Tanner Row. The main block of the Adelphi Hotel represents a house occupied by George Cook, butcher, later by Mrs. Storre or Torre, in 1793 by Mrs. Henrietta Leedes (YCA, E.95, f. 132), and c. 1800 by Mr. Ralph Robinson (E.97, f. 87). In 1819 it was sold to Thomas Cattley, raff merchant (YCA, E.97, f. 87). No. 28, formerly purchased from George Benson, stapler (Lord Mayor, 1738) was in 1749 in the possession of John Malton, goldsmith, and his wife Ann, who had it from her parents, James and Elizabeth Mason. A moiety of the property was conveyed to trustees and the whole described (E.93, ff. 217, 231) as 'a Fore Part late in the occupation of B. Bradley, surgeon and Richard Wilkinson; and a Back Part with two low rooms or kitchens with Chamber over them and a Turf Chamber on the right hand side of entry, formerly enjoyed by Mr. Christopher Easby'. By 1810 the whole property belonged to the Rev. Robert Benson, grandson of George Benson, who sold it to John Nicholson, yeoman, and Robert and Ambrose Gray, bricklayers (YCA, E.96, f. 131). They immediately rebuilt the front part, as an advertisement of 13 August 1810 (York Courant) describes the house as 'modern built'; and by February 1811 (E.96, f. 154) the Grays conveyed their two-thirds of the property to Nicholson, who in 1815 sold the whole to Henry Henwood, occupier of the 'lately rebuilt' front house (E.96, f. 248v.).

The main hotel block appears to have been reconstructed after 1850, but part of the Micklegate elevation makes use of a mid 18th-century moulded and modillioned cornice. No. 28 retains the upper part of its front of 1810 and incorporates in the walls some timbers, possibly remains of a 17th-century structure engulfed in the rebuilding. The front is of painted brick with two sash windows on each floor and a shallow modillioned cornice.

Behind the hotel lies the 'Back Part', of two storeys with attics; it has walls of late 17th-century brick encasing part of a mid 16th-century timber frame and retains parts of original roof trusses. Early in the 17th century a large chimney-stack was built near the middle of the house with a staircase at the side of it (Plate 83); the decoration of roses and thistles on the strings may indicate a date soon after 1603. There are also moulded beams and joists of the early 17th century. New windows were put in in the 18th century and new fireplaces in 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. 68-96. Monument 61.

Information derived from the NMR

Name The Railway King
Alternate Name (Former) Adelphi Hotel
Alternate Name (Former) Micklegate Bar
Alternate Name (Former) The Micklegate Public House
Alternate Name (Latest) The Reflex

The Railway King in Hudson Street now incorporates the Adelphi Hotel (26 Micklegate) and the Micklegate Bar (28 Micklegate).Numbers 1-3 Hudson Street was built in the mid 19th century and the Micklegate Bar was built circa 1810, but has earlier origins. Altered in the late 20th century, now a pub / nightclub

BF060800 THE ADELPHI HOTEL, YORK File of material relating to a site or building. This material has not yet been fully catalogued.

613515 Architectural Survey Investigation by RCHME/EH Architectural Survey

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

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