York Historic Environment Record

The Fire House or Fire Engine it was later known as w as built between 1909-1928. The design was
generic and multiple Fire Engine Houses were constructed in the wider York railway complex.
One design was used for at least 3 Fire Houses in the period between 1899 and 1928. The south extension to the Fire House had been built by 10th September 1948.

The Fire House would have been used by the Railway Fire Service as a base and for storing
their fire fighting equipment. No archive or published sources have been found which
explain the scope of this Services’ duties, but the Fire House’s proximity to the timber
drying sheds is probably no coincidence.

The Fire House became the Garage for the Regional Civil Engineers car and then used in the 1970s as a sighting equipment store for the Civil Engineers department.

The two earlier Fire House’s identified on the 1892 and 1909 OS Maps show that tracks
lead up to and potentially inside of the Fire House structures but did not leave through the
opposite side. Therefore, the reason for having two large double doors as part of the
design is unclear. Presumably the reason for the Fire Houses being located on a set of
tracks was to house fire fighting equipment which was on rail. However, even by 1892 it
seems that horse power was the most common form of traction for fire engines, soon
followed by motor cars such as the Merryweather Motor Pump of 1904.

2021, Fire House, York Central (Unpublished document). SYO2822.