York Historic Environment Record

House, No. 40 closely resembles Nos. 32, 36, built in 1747, and was presumably by the same designer. The original work of this period was an L-shaped building consisting of the front block to the street and a projecting wing at the back. The house belonged to Ann, widow of William Collingwood, gent., before her remarriage to Henry Casson in 1773, and it may have been built for Collingwood. From 1773 it was let to William Phillips Lee, esq., a wealthy bachelor of distinguished family and friend of Laurence Sterne, who put up £100 for the original publication of Tristram Shandy (YAJ, XLII (1967), 103–7).

After Lee's death in 1778 the house was held for several short terms until, in 1792, the freehold was acquired for £700 by Thomas Swann, a prominent York banker. The property was described as a messuage 'with Coachouse, Stables, Outbuildings, Garden and Yard' (YCA, E.95, f. 131v.). It was probably Thomas Swann (d. 1832) who extended the range behind the main building and added a third storey to it. Further extensions at the rear, and other alterations, were carried out soon after 1850. Members of the Swann family continued to live in the house until 1846; later occupants were Joseph Crawshaw, the railway contractor, from 1847 until his death in 1856, and during the 1870s the Rev. John Metcalfe, rector of Holy Trinity, Micklegate (Borthwick Inst., Rate Books of Holy Trinity, Micklegate; Directories). In the present century the ground floor was altered to form a shop.

The street front, in six bays, has a projecting brick band at first-floor level and timber eaves cornice. The doorway is similar to that to No. 32. Some of the windows retain the original sashes. The staircase, opening off the central passage in the N. corner of the main block, has turned newel and turned balusters, three to a tread.

Demolished 1964–5.

An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in City of York, Volume 3, South west. Originally published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1972. Monument 47.

NMR Information
613515 Architectural Survey Investigation by RCHME/EH Architectural Survey

BF060380 SHEARSMITHS LTD, 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.