The Old White Hart Inn (Ye Olde White Harte)

The Old White Hart Inn, Kingston Upon Hull

This building on Silver Street is a house converted to a public house and restaurant. Built around 1660 by William Catlyn, it was substantially remodelled in 1881 by the architects Smith & Brodrick, with further alterations made in the late 20th century.

The building is constructed of red brick with a pantile roof and coped gables. The ground floor brick is painted at first floor level.

The exterior presents a two-storey structure with attics. The facade displays late 17th-century Artisan Mannerist styling, though heavily altered in 1881. A slightly projecting centre bay features a pedimented gable. To the left is a canted two-sided bay, created in 1881. The ground floor contains two four-light transomed windows under square heads with keystones. A round-arched brick doorway with a leaded glazed door and oval overlight is positioned centrally. To the right are three similar windows, and further right a chamfered angle with a double panelled door flanked by a window. A prominent dentilled cornice dates from 1881. The first floor, less altered, displays a seven-window range: either side of the central bay are three 12-pane sash windows with side ones in sunken surrounds and centre ones slightly projecting. The central bay contains a tall single-light window with a straight-sided pediment above, while the attic has a square single-light window with a round-headed pediment, both dating from around 1881. These pediments are reused from above the former ground floor windows. Modillion eaves and renewed coped gables complete the first floor. The ground floor upper central window and the upper floor of a former billiard room across an alley contain stained glass from 1881. To the right are late 18th and early 19th-century additions in brick with rendered ground floor, comprising two three-storey ranges linked by a single-storey block, all with irregular fenestration.

Internally, the ground floor bars largely result from the 1881 remodelling and include a broad, deep brick fireplace in each. The bar fronts are panelled in 1881 work styled as 17th century, though the left-hand one has a canted appearance from late 20th-century alteration, as possibly does the right-hand one. A dog-leg staircase combines original 17th-century woodwork with 1881 additions. Some timbers show fire damage from 1883. The staircase features turned balusters and square newels, and includes a 17th-century plank door with a round-headed panel. On the right of the first floor landing stands a full-height oak-panelled room with some reused early 17th-century details in the overmantel and an elaborate frieze. To the left is another panelled room of full height with plainer detailing. A small panelled room leads off from one corner behind the stair. The landing window contains stained glass depicting Sir John Hotham, Governor of Hull from 1641.

The building has historical significance as the residence of Hull's deputy-governor in 1688 and the meeting place where a plot was formed to overthrow the Catholic governor appointed by James II, following William of Orange's arrival in England in November 1688. This event was celebrated as 'Town Taking Day' and represented an important moment in Hull's independence. A tradition, believed to originate in the 19th century, attributed the building to Sir John Hotham, who in 1642 refused admission to Charles I and precipitated the siege of Hull and the Civil War. However, late 20th-century documentary and architectural research has discounted this as a myth, as evidence indicates the building was not erected until after the Civil War.

The building exemplifies the modest yet free use of Classical models characteristic of the Artisan Mannerist style. The 1881 remodelling represents an interesting Romantic recreation of an idealised 17th-century inn, complete with massive fireplaces.