York Historic Environment Record

School hall and attached chapel. Hall 1838, extended at rear c1850; chapel 1861-2. Original building by John Harper; chapel by JB and W Atkinson. Front of hall range faced with limestone ashlar; elsewhere of red brick in Flemish bond with stone dressings; brick stacks. Chapel of coursed small stone blocks on moulded plinth, with ashlar dressings and slate roof. EXTERIOR: hall range on moulded plinth has 2-storey gabled frontispiece flanked by 1-storey 3-bay ranges with 2-storey gabled crosswings at each end: frontispiece and end bays project and have octagonal corner turrets. Frontispiece turrets are of 3 stages, defined by bands of quatrefoil tracery, the lower extending the full width of front and incorporating corbel heads. Ground stages have blind sunk panels; the second, niches with pedestals and crocketed gabled canopies; upper stages pierced by pairs of traceried lights. At the head is coved cornice incorporating corbel heads and grotesques beneath embattled parapet. Entrance in centre is casement moulded 4-centred arch with panelled double doors flanked by cinquefoiled niches with quatrefoiled spandrels. Above is 6 light panel traceried oriel window surmounted by parapet pierced with cinquefoiled tracery. Gable apex has defaced shield of arms beneath weathered canopy surmounted by gable cross. Crosswings are flanked by slender 3-stage turrets, the top stage consisting of blind trefoiled niches beneath embattled parapet. Windows project as shallow 4-light oriels with 2-tiers of cinquefoiled tracery surmounted by embattled parapets. Moulded sillstring continues over 1-storey ranges: moulded string to gable coping incorporates corbel heads. 1-storey ranges have three traceried square-headed windows beneath return stopped hoodmoulds. Coved eaves string with corbel heads beneath embattled parapet. Chapel: apsidal chancel, 6-bay nave, north door and west bellcote. Apse is of 5 bays separated by gabled buttresses; each contains a 2-light traceried window with 2-centred head beneath hoodmould with foliate corbel stops and full width sloped sill band. Nave north side articulated by 1-stage buttresses. Shallow square porch with embattled parapet has board double doors with wrought-iron hinges in 2-centred chamfered arch with hoodmould: above is truncated window with
traceried head in stilted 2-centred arch. Other bays have 2-light windows with ogee trefoiled lights and quatrefoil tracery. West end is gabled and has central weathered buttress supporting gabled bellcote. Buttress is flanked by traceried windows of 2 trefoiled lights beneath corbel-stopped hoodmoulds. Bellcote has single opening and is surmounted by wheel cross. Corbelled eaves course beneath coved coping encircles nave and chancel. Windows generally have geometrical tracery and square leaded lights. INTERIOR: not inspected. Originally built as a Preprietary School by a company formed by leading York citizens. In 1844 purchased by Dean and Chapter and amalgamated with St Peter's School. (An Inventory of the Historical Monuments of the City of York: RCHME: Outside the City Walls East of the Ouse: HMSO: 1975-: 53).
Listing NGR: SE5961152623

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

The origins of St Peter’s School can be traced back to AD627, being initially
associated with the Minster before receiving a Royal licence in 1557. It occupied
a range of sites in and around the city with pupil numbers fluctuating in response
to the socio-politics of the time but throughout maintained a reputation for
producing first class scholars.

Although in it’s early life the school may have occupied defined ‘school house(s)’, by the late
eighteenth century it was located in the ‘ruinous former church of St Andrew in Andrewgate’ and
it’s 1200th anniversary saw proposals to move the school back to the Minster and it’s own
building. Land was made available on the site of the Old Deanery for a ‘fresh-start, and
construction commenced in June 1830, with completion in July 1833.

This fresh-start included a reorganisation in the format of the school, with a new curriculum and
arrangements for admitting paying pupils extended, as well as the new building in the Minster
Yard. However, the school had been suffering from diminishing pupil numbers for some time –
partly as a result of increasing competition from new schools – and although this new start in
Minster Yard saw an improvement, it is thought to have still not met with public regard as, in
1836, citizens of York set up a company to establish a ‘new high-class boarding school for boys.’
Land was purchased for this new school in Clifton from the Earl de Grey in January 1837 and
York-based architect John Harpur was appointed to design a school that would ‘…surpass any
building in York, even the Minster.’ Building commenced in early 1837 and the new school was
opened 1st August 1838.

As described in A History of St Peter’s School, York (Hamilton, D H) the masterplan of the original
part of the school was intended to be symmetrical in form and composition but this was not
realised and, as a result of the construction of the chapel, the asymmetry of the structures has
continued, as is very much in evidence today.

Development of the campus continued in various fits and bursts but most pertinent to this area of
the site was the period of expansion under the direction of headmaster John Dronfield (1937 –
1967) during the post-war years.
Rear of School House: Opened in 1960, the rear extension to the Listed School House provided
a new dining hall and kitchen for the senior school, and is still used as such today. The simple
brick structure is single storey with gable and parapet behind which are set a folded-metal pitched
roof. The window details and proportions are very much inspired by the neighbouring science
block that was constructed in 1908, with later re-facing/extension to the quad.

Design, Access and Heritage Statement 2016 for planning application