York Historic Environment Record

The two parallel ranges adjacent to the Railway Institute were constructed as Locomotive Erecting Shops for the North Eastern Railway Company. The block nearest the RI incorporates the remains of a North & North Midlands wagon repair workshop of the 1840s. This was extended in the 1850s and a smith’s shop was added, to provide workshops for the newly formed North Eastern Railway Company. Around 1884 the building was raised and converted to provide the No.2 Locomotive Erecting Shop where the locomotives were repaired and sometimes constructed. The second block was purpose-built as No.1 Locomotive Erecting Shop in 1879. As the use of the educational facilities at the RI decreased and demand for physical activities increased, the redundant carriage-building shops were converted into a gymnasium in 1926. The old carriage works were predominantly used as a boxing ring but today they host nine wood-sprung badminton courts. These blocks of workshops are rare survivals of a considerably larger group of buildings which represent the development of the railway industry in York during the nineteenth century. Furthermore, the buildings have been at risk of demolition due to the York Central Development, despite their communal and historic value.

NMR Information:

Summary description
Former Railway Shed (now Gymnasium), Queen Street. The earliest surviving building on the site is a "waggon shop" marked on the Ordnance Survey First Edition map of 1852. This was designed either by G.T. Andrews or Thomas Cabry for the York and North Midland Railway Company, and survives in part within later additions to the building.

The building was extended between 1852 and 1854. The building continued to be used as a wagon repair shop until 1867 when it became a machine shop for the nearby locomotive works. In 1879 a new locomotive erecting shop was built on the north side of the existing range, extending further eastwards and with a higher roof than the older range. Five years later the older range was raised in height, extended to the east and its west end wall rebuilt, to form a second locomotive erecting shed. A turntable and entrance was created on the south side, as one of the original tracks was lost in the extension.

Locomotive works ceased at York in 1904, and the sheds were converted to other uses. A small building in the eastern angle of the two ranges of sheds was rebuilt in 1912 as lodgings for railway workers who needed overnight accommodation. In 1925 the Railway Institute (HOB UID 1458883) took over the southern range, including this building, to use as a gymnasium, while the northern range became a carriage shed then lost property office and at the time of the survey in 2007 is in various uses including a rifle range and hire car business.

The former locomotive erecting shed comprises two main ranges, aligned roughly east-west, immediately to the south of the west end of York railway station. Both are brick built in pier and panel construction, the southern range mainly of common York brick and the northern of a harder red brick, with pitched slate roofs partly replaced with metal sheeting and with inserted roof lights.

Full description
Former Railway Shed (now Gymnasium), Queen Street. The earliest surviving building on the site is a "waggon shop" marked on the Ordnance Survey First Edition map of 1852. This was designed either by G.T. Andrews or Thomas Cabry for the York and North Midland Railway Company, and survives in part within later additions to the building. The building wasextended between 1852 and 1854. The building continued to be used as a wagon repair shop until 1867 when it became a machine shop for the nearby locomotive works.

In 1879 a new locomotive erecting shop was built on the north side of the existing range, extending further eastwards and with a higher roof than the older range. Five years later the older range was raised in height, extended to the east and its west end wall rebuilt, to form a second locomotive erecting shed. A turntable and entrance was created on the south side, as one of the original tracks was lost in the extension. Locomotive works ceased at York in 1904, and the sheds were converted to other uses. A small building in the eastern angle of the two ranges of sheds was rebuilt in 1912 as lodgings for railway workers who needed overnight accommodation.

In 1925 the Railway Institute (HOB UID 1458883) took over the southern range, including this building, to use as a gymnasium, while the northern range became a carriage shed then lost property office and at the time of the survey in 2007 is in various uses including a rifle range and hire car business. The former locomotive erecting shed comprises two main ranges, aligned roughly east-west, immediately to the south of the west end of York railway station. Both are brick built in pier and panel construction, the southern range mainly of common York brick and the northern of a harder red brick, with pitched slate roofs partly replaced with metal sheeting and with inserted roof lights.

The older southern range has sixteen bays with a further narrower bay at the east end. The northern range also has 16 bays but these are wider and the range extends further east than the southern. A small single storey building is tucked into the angle between the two ranges with its own pitched roof and with replacement plastic windows, and various single storey extensions have been attached to the west end of both ranges. The southern range has in each bay a single long segmentally arched window below and a similar but very short window above: these all had small panes in cast iron frames until recently but are now blocked.

The northern range has two windows at each level in each bay also with small paned cast iron frames, though many have been partially altered and two have been replaced with entrances. The central bay of the southern range is wider than the rest and contains a large, double height segmental arched entrance, now blocked. The east end of the northern range has a similar entrance surviving and at the west end surviving tracks run into the building through a large sliding door. Internally both ranges are largely open, with a Euston truss construction roof in the southern range and a modified version with timber principal rafters in the northern. A viewing gallery has been inserted at the first floor level in the southern range, and the blocked upper windows can be seen to retain their glazing. In the northern range, the rail tracks continue internally until masked by a ramp. Above the west entrance the remains of the overhead crane survive.

The building was considered for listing in 2007 as it was at risk of demolition as part of the York Central development area. It was not considered suitable for listing for the following reasons:

The former locomotive sheds are an amalgam of buildings of different dates.
The earlier parts are very fragmentary.
The later parts are from a period with high survival rates nationally, and are of limited architectural significance.
Late alterations and accretions have lessened the interest of the sheds. (1)

Sources
1 English Heritage Listing File Case files created by English Heritage for buildings being considered for Listed Building status Alison Clarke, 26-APR-2007

Architect GEORGE TOWNSEND ANDREWS 1852 Nineteenth century architect associated with railways
Architect THOMAS CABRY 1852
Owner North Midland Railway Company 1852

Compiler PETRA WADE 2007-09-26 2007-09-26 EH staff 1997 -
Heritage Protection Adviser ALISON CLARKE 2007-04-26 2007-04-26 EH staff

Dr Bill Fawcett, John A Ives and Alison Sinclair, 2013, YORK CENTRAL AUDIT OF HERITAGE ASSETS,NOVEMBER 2013 (Report). SYO1457.

York Archaeological Trust, 2017, York Station and Queen St Bridge DBA (Unpublished document). SYO2053.

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