York Historic Environment Record

No. 27 was part of a pair built c. 1735 for Messrs Dawson and Hillary, wine merchants. The site was bought by Richard Dawson between October 1733 and January 1734/5 (YCA, E.93, ff. 75, 79, 80) and included a warehouse and cellars. By 1736 the house had been built (Drake, 265), and in 1740 Dawson advertised his property as 'a large convenient well-built House, with a garden and very large Cellars' (York Courant, 6 May). In 1746 he mortgaged the 'messuage and warehouse, counting house and cellars joining and under' (YCA, E.93, f. 183). Later in the 18th century the house was taken by William Tuke and his wife Esther to be a girls' boarding school under the auspices of the Society of Friends. The school opened on 1 January 1785 and continued until 1812, when it was taken over as a private venture, but closed in 1814 (H. W. Sturge and T. Clark, The Mount School, York (1931), 1–31). No doubt because of its extensive cellarage the building was again used by wine merchants and later became the Trinity House public house. In the early 19th century, narrow window openings in various places were replaced by broad ones. The house to E. was demolished before 1950.

The Front Elevation, of pale pinkish brick, has a plain plinth and, above the ground floor, a projecting band. A magnesian limestone cornice supports a brick parapet with stone coping. The main doorway has a round arch of rubbed brick with stone key-block and moulded stone imposts and a radial fanlight with very heavy glazing bars. The plan comprises a central entrance and stair hall with one room to each side and a wing projecting N. and W. All fittings have been removed from the ground floor. The staircase rises in three flights and has a moulded handrail swept upwards at each landing, a cut string and moulded newels and balusters. In a room on the first floor is a fine early 18th-century fireplace, with pine enrichment. A room to N.W., entered through an arched doorway with moulded architrave and panelled reveals, is panelled in two heights with moulded dado rail and skirting and fielded panels. The fireplace, set obliquely in the S.E. angle, has a moulded stone surround, with a heavy entablature and key-block.

Demolished 1961; enriched fireplace from S.W. room presented to the York Civic Trust and in 1969 reused in Nos. 17, 19 Aldwark, York (MYO1878)

'Secular Buildings: Miscellaneous', in An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in City of York, Volume 3, South west (London, 1972), pp. 110. (Monument 128)

NMR Information
BF061225 27 TRINITY LANE, YORK File of material relating to a site or building. This material has not yet been fully catalogued

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

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