19 And 21, Clifford Street

Offices on Clifford Street in York. Number 19 was built in 1883 and Number 21 in 1887, with later alterations to both.

The buildings are constructed with red brick fronts and pink and grey mottled brick to the rear, both in Flemish bond with terracotta dressings. Number 19 has a shopfront of painted stone and cast-iron; Number 21's shopfront is of timber. A wrought-iron balcony on brackets adorns the first floor of Number 19. Both buildings have elaborate brick cornice stacks supporting slate mansard roofs.

Number 19 rises to three storeys with an attic and has a two-window front. The ground-floor shopfront features Composite pilasters with sunk panels filled with foliate mouldings beneath a broad frieze and dentilled cornice on block consoles, topped with semicircular gablets. At the left end is an ornate panelled door with a radial-glazed fanlight in an enriched semicircular arch with a heavily moulded keyblock on scrolled brackets. Above the door is a frieze panel containing a low relief cartouche incorporating the initials IR between putti holding swags. To the right of the door are shallow canted bay windows flanking a centre window, probably altered from a shop door, all framed in twisted Ionic columns of painted cast-iron. The windows have small pane glazing, the outer ones with transom lights with crossed glazing bars, and the centre one with a radial glazed fanlight. The first and second floors are bordered with two tiers of fluted pilaster strips. On the first floor, the window to the right is an inserted canted bay with a margin-glazed centre sash; to the left is a two-light casement in a keyed elliptical arch on moulded console imposts, with a fluted impost string continued across the front. A dentilled cornice sits above. The second floor has a tripartite window to the right with a four-pane centre sash and four-pane sash to the left, over a moulded sill band on fluted block brackets. A fluted continuous lintel forms the architrave to the eaves entablature, which has a frieze of garlanded panels and a dentilled cornice on grooved consoles, terminating in spherical urns with finials. A right-end frieze panel contains the date. The attic has two dormer windows with four-pane sashes beneath semicircular pediments filled with flutes radiating from shells.

Number 21 extends to three storeys with an attic and has a three-window front. The shopfront has part-fluted, part-panelled Composite pilasters on tall pedestals with a sunk panel frieze and dentilled cornice on grooved brackets. An elliptical central arch with a grooved keyblock contains a recessed replacement door approached by steps; to the left, a similar arch on corbels is closed by an iron gate. Ground-floor windows are three lights with small-pane glazing and timber mullions and transoms, over ironwork grilles of similar design to the gate. The upper floors are bordered by two tiers of sunk panel pilasters. On the first floor, a two-light centre window has a pedimented surround of sunk panel Composite pilasters with a panelled frieze and bracketed cornice; the pediment tympanum contains a moulded date cartouche surrounded by foliage trails. The outer windows are three-light canted bays with elliptical arched heads on moulded imposts, beneath a dentilled cornice continued as a band across the front. On the second floor, the centre window is flanked by pilasters, the outer ones by panels of low relief flower mouldings. The windows are two-light casements over a moulded sill band, beneath keyed elliptical arches linked by a dentilled impost band. Window heads break into a frieze of moulded swagged panels, beneath a cornice similar to that of Number 19. The attic centre window is of paired round-headed lights in a pedimented surround with an obelisk finial and moulded cartouche and foliage trails in the tympanum. On each side are inserted four-light flat-topped dormers.

The interior of Number 19 features a half-panelled lobby door with margin glazing in a glazed and panelled screen. The outer lobby, entrance hall and stairhall are panelled in painted cast-iron strips with fluted skirting. The dado has rinceaux with flowers; sunk panel pilaster strips with panelled shafts enriched with foliate trails and enriched Composite capitals sit on tall pedestals moulded with figures in high relief representing the Seasons. A frieze of arabesques with flowers and blank cartouches is present, with high relief lion masks marking the intersection of pilasters and dado strips. A flat stairhall arch on Composite pilasters with moulded shafts incorporating a variety of forms including foliage, cornucopias, herms and ribbons has capitals enriched with lion masks, shells and palm leaves. A close string staircase with turned balusters, moulded handrail and turned newel with brass finial rises through the space. Heavily moulded plaster ceilings, including the underside of the stairs, complete all parts.

The interior of Number 21 was not inspected.