York Historic Environment Record

Almshouse and schoolroom with schoolmaster's house attached to rear. Almshouse 1765, extensively rebuilt 1812; schoolmaster's house 1805: buildings modernised 1958. For the Trustees of the Dorothy Wilson Charity.

MATERIALS: almshouse front and left return of orange brick in Flemish bond on painted stone plinth, rear of brown-cream mottled brick in English garden-wall bond; raised chamfered quoins to front and left return; two cornices and dressings of painted stone; timber doorcase; moulded cornice to hipped slate roof with corner scrolls and brick stacks. Schoolmaster's house of grey-cream brick, Flemish bond at front, English garden-wall bond at rear; slate roof with skylight and brick stack.

EXTERIOR: ALMSHOUSE: 2 storeys and attic; 5-bay front, 3 centre bays breaking forward: attached 1-storey wall to right with panelled side door beneath round arch of voussoirs on moulded imposts. Centre bay openings on ground floor recessed beneath arcaded arches of voussoirs on impost band: doorcase of sunk-panel pilasters with moulded imposts and cornice contains 6-panel door and radial fanlight recessed in round-arched architrave. Ground and first floor windows are 16-pane sashes with keyed arches of voussoirs and painted stone sills. Above door, blind niche beneath round arch of voussoirs on moulded imposts contains inscription recording laying of 1812 foundation stone.

Attic windows, above massive moulded cornice returned across left front, are 16-pane sashes with flat arches of rubbed brick: in centre, reset panel records foundation in 1719 of Dorothy Wilson's Charity for the "Maintenance of ten poor Women as also for the instruction in English, Reading, Writing and Clothing of twenty poor Boys for ever". 3-bay left return has windows similar to those on main front, one blind, and inverted bell rainwater head. Rear: 3 storeys, 6 bays; left half covered by 1-storey, 3-bay projecting schoolroom: schoolmaster's house projects to right. Between schoolroom and house, steps with serpentine handrail on square section balusters and turned standard lead to glazed and panelled door with overlight beneath pent porch. Schoolroom has unequal 20-pane sash windows with painted stone sills and channelled wedge lintels. Almshouse windows are 16-pane sashes beneath segmental arches on first floor, cambered arches on second floor. Radial-glazed staircase window has painted keyed round arch of voussoirs on imposts and painted stone sill. Tall extruded stack in right end bay. Timber guttering on paired modillions, with left of centre inverted bell rainwater head.

SCHOOLMASTER'S HOUSE: 2 storeys, 3 bays, with full-height added porch in centre. 6-panel front door beneath divided overlight within panelled porch: small 4-pane sash window with segmental arch on first floor. 12-pane sash to right of porch, blocked window opening to left, and unequal 9-pane sashes on first floor have flat arches. All windows have painted stone sills. Rear: 2 storeys, 2 windows: windows repeat those on front with addition of 6-pane ground floor window. 3 circular tie rod plates.

INTERIOR: ALMSHOUSE: rebuilt staircase reuses cast-iron stick balusters and ramped-up moulded handrail. Former Committee Room at rear of first floor, entered through round arch on sunk-panel pilasters with moulded imposts, now subdivided, retains reeded cornice with roundels and plain fireplace and shelf. A number of panelled room and cupboard doors survive throughout the building. (City of York: RCHME: The Central Area: HMSO: 1981-: 96).
Listing NGR: SE6061351688

Derived from English Heritage LB download dated: 22/08/2005

Dorothy Wilson's Hospital, No. 2 Walmgate (Plate 153; Fig. 54), established under the will of Dorothy Wilson who died in 1717, was originally accommodated in her own house on this site. The premises were rebuilt in 1765 and again in 1812 following the rebuilding of the adjacent Foss Bridge. The hospital provided for ten poor women and also included a schoolroom for twenty poor boys. A schoolmaster's house, erected in 1805, stands just behind the hospital. The school was closed in 1895. The hospital was modernised in 1958.

The building is of brick with white painted dressings, of three storeys under a slated roof. The S.W. front to the street is five bays wide, the centre part projecting slightly. The central doorway and adjacent windows are set in arched recesses; above the doorway, in an arched recess, is an inscription recording the laying of the foundation stone in 1812. At second-floor level is a heavy moulded cornice, and reset in the top storey is a stone panel from the original building recording the endowment of the hospital and schoolhouse by Dorothy Wilson, spinster; the year of her death is incorrectly shown on the panel (Plate 182). To N.W. the three-bay side elevation directly overlooks the Foss. The internal finish is very simple, only the Committee Room on the first floor having a ceiling cornice. The staircase is modern.

An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in City of York, Volume 5, Central. Originally published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1981. Monument 42

NMR Information:

Related event: (UID 613515) INVESTIGATION BY RCHME/EH ARCHITECTURAL SURVEY
Architectural Survey 14-NOV-1995 - 14-NOV-1995

RCHME, 1981, City of York Volume V: The Central Area (Monograph). SYO65.

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