York Historic Environment Record

NMR:

Built in 1883 as Burnholme Hall and was designed by W G Penty for John Bellerby, the villa is now in use as a social club. Circa 1900 two single storey extensions were added, one containing a billiard room survives but the other was removed after 1937. Circa 1933 the building became a social club.
Burnholme is described in Pevsner (2001) as a "fantasy villa with turrets, half timbering and decorative plaster panels". The exterior is certainly striking when viewed from any direction, especially the entrance front that faces south west. The building has a complex roof with a couple of turrets, several dormers and gable ends, some of which are half hipped. The roof is of slate laid to diminishing courses to perforated tile ridges. The five ridge stacks that are scattered across the roof are all suspiciously short and plain: they have probably been truncated. Roof verges are finished with decorated timber bargeboards and the exposed feet of the rafters are also shaped. The upper parts of several of the gable ends are half timbered, framing decorative plaster panels. To the rear there is a large cross mullioned stair window. The first floor windows may be original with multi-paned upper lights and tall plate glass lower sashes, however those to the ground floor are modern replacements. The walls below the upper half timbered sections are predominantly red brickwork but banded with courses of embossed terracotta sandwiched between bands of glazed black bricks. Window lintels and cills are treated comparatively simply in stone although the side reveals are of chamfered brick. To the rear there is an almost detached single storey extension with raise coped gables, being the billiard room added circa 1900. To the south, extending the line of the garden elevation, is a small modern flat roofed extension. However, because of the visual architectural feast provided by the original house, this small modern extension is barely noticeable.
The main entrance is on the south west side and has a gothic style porch which includes decorative moulded stone and brickwork as well as stained glass windows to the sides. Unfortunately these windows are very badly damaged. The timber ceiling above is also decorative and of good quality. Internally the house has a fairly typical central entry stair hall plan form with reception rooms on the ground floor and bedrooms above. The staircase is broad and has a half landing well lit by the stair window which features stained glass. Unfortunately the stained glass is not of high quality, and much of the detail is rather faded. The original staircase balusters may survive behind hardboard boxing, but the large brass sculpture that used to adorn the bottom newel post apparently went missing many years ago. The principal reception rooms on the south side of the building have been knocked through to form a single large room. A small area of the original highly ornate timber ceiling survives towards the centre, but the rest is reported to no longer survive, although it may be concealed above the modern suspended ceiling. All of the fireplaces on the ground floor have been lost, as have other decorative detailing apart from a couple of elaborate timber doorcases facing onto the entrance hall. The billiard room to the rear features a striking barrel-vaulted ceiling and has some timber panelling to the walls.
On the first floor, the large upper landing retains decorative coving as well as elaborate and visually very heavy, decorative archways. The three former rooms on the southern side of the first floor (probably two bedrooms flanking a shared dressing room) have been knocked through to form a single large room. There has almost certainly been a loss of decorative detail within this area but two typical late 19th century fireplaces do survive in place. The attic retains several large rainwater tanks which probably originally provided the house's water supply. The two storey servants' wing to the north was not inspected.
The building was assessed for listing in 2008, but did not meet the criteria for addition to the list for the following reasons:
Although the house has an impressive and generally well preserved exterior, it has undergone significant internal alteration with the knocking through of the principal ground floor reception rooms as well as what was probably the principal first floor bedrooms.
Surviving details show that the house originally had an elaborate interior decorative scheme, only fragments of which still survive.
Although it is a house with considerable visual architectural interest by a notable architect, there are better preserved examples of similarly large villas surviving nationally that also date to the 1880s. Burnholme is thus considered to be too altered to meet the criteria for listing in a national context.

English Heritage Listing File Eric Branse-Instone, 15-MAY-2008
No List Case 505107/001

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