30, Lawrence Street

30 Lawrence Street is a disused warehouse and office that was originally a flax mill built around 1804 for Stabler, Marshall & Co. It underwent additions around 1825 and 1835 for John Swale, with 20th-century alterations. The building is constructed of brindled brick and has a sheet asbestos roof.

The exterior features a three-storey, ten-bay mill from 1804, which has been extended to the north by a five-bay warehouse from 1825 and to the south by a four-storey, fifteen-bay mill from 1835. The latter includes a three-storey, four-bay boiler house that projects from its east side. On the west side, the three-storey range has a 1960 addition to the first two bays, a through-passage to bay five, and various 20th-century casements with projecting stone sills and segmental brick arches, though some openings have been altered. There is a truncated stack on the left and an eaves stack near the centre. The four-storey range has similar openings with minimal alteration and features a lavatory tower at bay one, topped by an octagonal chimney.

The east side mirrors the west but has larger openings of later date on the ground floor. The boiler house has a bricked-up round arch to the left of a large 20th-century opening, while the original fenestration for the drying rooms above includes multi-pane iron casements and a truncated chimney stack at the rear-left corner.

Inside the four-storey section, cast-iron columns and girders support transverse brick arches, and the upper floors are stone-flagged with queen-post roof trusses.

Historically, Stabler, Marshall and Co went bankrupt in 1816, and the premises were sold to John Swale, who continued to spin flax using steam power until around 1850. A fire in 1825 may have prompted the construction of the four-storey mill. The powered flax-spinning machinery was patented by Kendrew and Porthouse in 1787, making Lawrence Street mill one of the earliest buildings to utilize this technology and the only steam-powered flax mill in York.