York Historic Environment Record

No. 16 is largely of c. 1820 but contains elements of an earlier structure, probably erected in the late 18th century and represented by lower features of whitish-red brick and the ashlar stone front.

In the early 19th century Sir John Simpson, corn factor, lived here, giving his name to Simpson's Yard at the back, later incorporated in Botterill's Horse Repository. He was Sheriff in 1826–7; Alderman 1834 and re-elected 1835; Lord Mayor 1836 and knighted that year, fined for Lord Mayor in 1847 and again in 1853; he died in 1854, aged 58. His firm, L. & J. Simpson, corn millers, suffered a great fire in 1820 (York Gazette & Herald, 14, 28 Oct.), and it is not certain whether the house was affected, but about this time a third storey and attics, in a large dark-coloured brick, were added. The front porch was formed, the entrance hall remodelled, and flues added to the earlier chimney stacks. Fireplaces with good surrounds and Carron grates, although in the later build, would conform better with the earlier work of the late 18th century and may have been moved from the lower storeys at the remodelling.

The three-storeyed Front Elevation has a gabled finish. Ground and first floors are in ashlar with some stucco, and part of the second floor has ashlar facing to a former gable some 10–15 ft. below the present gable. At ground floor stucco covers the plinth and lower wall up to a band at window-sill level. To W. is the entrance, of Regency date, with reeded pilasters to the opening and a simple entablature; the door, set back in the thickness of the wall, has six fielded panels, a segmental fanlight, reeded pilasters with lions' masks on the caps, and small flanking lights, blocked with shutters. Two large windows to E. have segmental heads and raised key-blocks. At first floor are three sash windows with flat 'arches', each of a single block, and a plain band at sill level; above is a moulded string-course. Set within a central round-headed recess at second floor is a sash window with plain ashlar sill and, on either side, a flush-framed sash window with plain sill and flat brick arch. The ashlar carries up over the central window, indicating that the building was originally of two storeys with attics, lit by a window in the gable. The Rear Elevation, mainly of whitish-red brick but with the top floor and attics of a later, larger brick, has a projecting plinth, three bricks deep, and above it a stone sill band. There are two doorways, a two-storey bay window and hung-sash windows under flat arched heads.

The house is divided by a central passageway between the front office and two back rooms, leading from the entrance hall on the W. to the staircase on the E. The fittings to the ground floor are all of c. 1820 or later. On the upper floors some of the rooms have been modernised but some retain their fittings of c. 1820. The third-floor fireplaces have iron grates by Carron of late 18th-century style.

The Staircase is all of one date: the two flights to the first floor have cantilevered stone treads, stone slabs at the half-landing and landing, and a moulded pinewood rail, under which an iron strap holds the tops of slender cast-iron balusters, copied from turned wooden prototypes with a square knop; at the bottom, the rail spirals over an iron newel of the same form as the balusters; the rest of the staircase has softwood treads on a cut string, a rail as before, and turned wooden balusters like the others but sturdier, incorporating some of c. 1830 which have a series of annulets at knop level. The main feature of the staircase is the extreme slenderness of its members; there are similar staircases at the Black Swan, Coney Street, and 18 Blake Street, both of the late 18th century. The skirting of the first three flights is different from that of the others, which is common to the upper floors.

RCHME 1972 Monument 123

Information derived from NMR
Number 16 Tanner Row, a house built circa 1820, in use as offices in 1988.

BF061216 16 TANNER ROW, 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.