York Historic Environment Record

Mechanics institute, now masonic hall. 1845-46; converted to masonic lodge 1883; further alteration 1910; partially rebuilt and extended 1969. By JB and W Atkinson. Brown brick in English garden-wall and stretcher bonds, with stuccoed front on chamfered plinth; slate hipped roofs with brick stacks.

EXTERIOR: 2 storeys and attic; 3-bay main front: 2-storey, 1-bay wing to left; 1-storey extension set back further left. Entrance in extension. Main front quoined on both floors: ground floor framed in pilasters supporting moulded cornice. Former central doorway altered to 8-pane sash window, flanked by 3-light windows with narrow sashes and painted stone sills. First floor windows are round-headed, blind sashes painted with radial glazing, in rectangular surrounds with spandrel rosettes, over moulded sill band. Attic treated as blind pilastraded parapet with moulded cornice. Openings in 2-storey wing correspond to those on main front with plain detailing.

INTERIOR: not inspected.

(City of York: RCHME: The Central Area: HMSO: 1981-: 208). Listing NGR: SE6021152082

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

Masonic Hall, built for The Institute of Popular Science and Literature (formerly The Mechanics' Institute) in 1845–6, to the design of J. B. & W. Atkinson (YG, 21 June 1845), originally had a lecture hall, news and reading room, class rooms and library (Sheehan and Whellan, 1, 644). It was bought by the Eboracum Lodge of Freemasons in 1883.

Brick-built with cellars, the building has a two-storey main block with clerestorey and a short, two-storey S.W. side wing. The three-bay front elevation of the main block is stuccoed, with corner rustication, moulded bands and cornice. On the ground floor, pilasters define side bays with three-light windows and a central doorway, blocked in 1910. Above a broad band formerly inscribed THE INSTITUTE, the first floor has round-headed windows within rectangular frames with corner rosettes, and a line of tall, but narrow, clerestorey lights. The slightly recessed wing is more simply treated. The interior has been altered on the ground floor and the rear stair hall was rebuilt in 1969. On the first floor, the S.W. wing has two rooms, one open to the original lecture hall which occupies the whole of the main block. The windows of the hall, formerly identical to front and rear, were blocked during conversion to a Masonic Temple, but the shouldered-arched recesses in the side walls and coffered ceiling remain.

Monument 405; City of York: RCHME: The Central Area: HMSO: 1981-: 208

NMR Information

List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest. District of York, 14-MAR-1997

BF061100 MASONIC HALL, YORK File of material relating to a site or building. This material has not yet been fully catalogued.

People and Organisations
Architect JB and W Atkinson 1845-1846

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

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