York Historic Environment Record

Gatehouse to Merchant Adventurers' Hall; now shops. Mid C17 in origin, with doorcase and Coat of Arms of 1854; rebuilt and extended at rear in 1962. Orange-pink brick in stretcher bond with stone doorway and moulded stone dressings; rear of buff brick in irregular bond; pantile roof with brick stacks.

EXTERIOR: 2-storey 3-bay front, centre bay rising to attic in shaped gable. Central passage entry in moulded 4-centred arch in square-headed surround with moulded cornice hood and spandrels carved with rosettes in foliage: frieze incorporates words 'MERCHANTS HALL' carved in low relief. Over door is panel in moulded surround with painted high-relief carving of the Arms of the Merchant Adventurers of England. Flanking shopfronts have Gothick-glazed doors and small-pane windows in frames of sunk-panel pilasters with dentil cornices. First floor and attic windows are 3-light mullion and transom casements with square lattice glazing. Full-width moulded string above first floor windows. Moulded coping to eaves, rising over gable, with fluted inverted bell rainwater head at each end. Rear: 2 storeys, 5 bays: pedimented centre bay breaks forward, end bays project. Central passage opening in round arch of two orders, the inner with imposts: panelled door in left end bay. Cross windows with square lattice glazing on both floors of central bays, with segmental brick arches on ground floor, flat arches of orange brick on first floor. Right end bay has slit window on ground floor, and both end bays have glazed oeil-de-boeuf on first floor. 3-course raised brick band to first floor. Moulded timber cornice to pediment and beneath plain coped parapet.

INTERIOR: not inspected.

(City of York: RCHME: The Central Area: HMSO: 1981-: 88).
Listing NGR: SE6055851726

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

The Gatehouse, of two storeys and attics, has brick walls and pantile-covered roofs. It was built in the middle of the 17th century and has a frontage to Fossgate with a central passage leading to, and aligned on, the entrance to the hall. It has been mostly rebuilt in recent times and little of the original remains except the brick structure of some internal walls. The front elevation is a reasonably accurate copy of the original and has a shaped gable with quadrant and ogee profiles. The windows, with wood mullions and transoms, are less faithful copies; formerly, on the first floor, they had ovolo mouldings. The centrally-placed stone doorway with moulded four-centred arch is probably of the same date as the Company arms carved in stone above it, recorded to have been renewed in 1854. The back elevation was completely rebuilt to a new design in 1962, and the interior has been extensively modernised.

Monument 37; City of York: RCHME: The Central Area: HMSO: 1981-: 88

NMR Information

Full description

(SE 60565174-O.S 1/2500, 1963)

1. FOSSGATE 5343 (south-west side)

Nos 39 and 41 (Gatehouse to Merchant Adventurers Hall)

SE 6051 NE 17/53 14.6.54

I GV

2.
C17 in origin but largely rebuilt. Brick; 2 storeys; 2 windows; rises to a large curvilinear gable with window; central passageway through moulded stone doorway, with, above, the Arms (a reproduction) of the Mercers Company in a moulded stone panel. A.M.
(RCHM Vol. V, Monument 37.)

List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest. p96 City of York, June 1983

613515 Architectural Survey Investigation by RCHME/EH Architectural Survey

BF060276 THE MERCHANT ADVENTURERS HALL, FOSSGATE, YORK

RCHME, 1981, City of York Volume V: The Central Area (Monograph). SYO65.

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