York Medical Society

York Medical Society

A complex of interconnected buildings on Stonegate, York, now serving as offices, headquarters of the York Medical Society, and flats. The main structure dates from the late 16th century, incorporating remains of earlier structures including the probable crosswing of No. 2 Coffee Yard (Barley Hall). Significant alterations, extensions, and subdivisions were carried out in the mid 17th, mid 18th, and early 19th centuries, with further work in 1870. The building was restored in 1976.

The original timber-framed structure has been significantly modified externally. The entrance front is rendered with planted timber-framing visible. The left wing has a ground floor in stretcher bond brick with a first floor of incised render. The right wing is constructed in orange-grey brick laid in Flemish bond. The rear is encased in orange-brown brick, mostly laid in random bond with some Flemish bond, and includes a rendered first floor to one block. The roofing comprises plain tile and pantile with brick stacks.

The entrance front presents a symmetrical composition of a gabled main block of two storeys and attic between projecting wings. The left wing is two storeys, while the right wing rises to two storeys and attic. The main block's ground floor contains a stone porch with heavy dentilled cornice and truncated moulded pediment, beneath which stand paired six-panel doors with divided overlights accessed by a short flight of steps. The first floor features a 16-pane sash window, with two tiers of eight-pane Yorkshire sashes lighting the attic. An embattled rainwater head dated 1590—the earliest surviving example in York—is located in the angle between the main block and right wing.

The left wing displays paired 12-pane sash windows on the ground floor and a 24-pane sash to the first floor. The gable end has a tripartite window at ground floor level and a canted oriel with 3:6:3-pane lights on the first floor.

The right wing has scattered ground floor fenestration. At the left end is a tall round-arched radial-glazed staircase sash with a painted stone sill. The first floor of the gable end incorporates an earlier timber-framed gable truss.

The rear elevation overlooking the garden reveals two gabled bays in the centre, each of two storeys with attics. The right bay features a jettied attic with plain bargeboards on brackets. To the left stands a three-storey gabled wing with a one-storey extension projecting to the front, while to the right is a single two-storey bay terminating in a three-storey block. The centre bays have margin-glazed and flush-panelled doors with radial fanlights, flanked by 12-pane sash windows on ground and first floors. The first floor windows are notably shorter than those below, while attic windows are squat six-pane sashes, all with painted stone sills. The left extension features canted French doors within a glazed and panelled screen in the re-entrant angle with the wing, and two 12-pane sash windows. The three-storey wing is lit by 16-pane sash windows on the visible floors, with 20th-century openings added to the first and second floors. The link bay to the right has a four-pane fixed light with a timber lintel on the ground floor and a canted bay window with small-pane casements above. The end block has 20th-century tripartite windows in the gable end on each floor and two-course raised brick bands. A tumbled brick gable is surmounted by a corbelled-out gabled dovecote. The return to the garden features a flight of brick steps leading to a 20th-century first-floor doorway. The right return has a restored inserted eight-light ground floor window with ovolo moulded mullions and transoms.

The interior was not fully inspected during the survey. On the left side, the ground floor contains a mid-18th-century staircase with an open string, slender turned balusters (two to each tread), and a moulded ramped-up handrail wreathed at the foot around a turned newel, with matching dado rail extending into the stairwell. The rear wing has a fireplace with a moulded bressumer. The first floor wing features a fireplace with composition mouldings.

On the right side, the ground floor contains an early 19th-century staircase of stone steps with a balustrade of cast-iron panels incorporating anthemion and snake motifs. A room in the front part is lined with 17th-century panelling. The dining room (now the Lecture Room) has a plaster frieze of Greek fret and paterae beneath an enriched cornice. The library contains a fireplace of Ionic columns with a frieze of urns and garlanded medallions, flanked by round-arched niches. On the first floor, the landing is spanned by arches springing from piers encasing timber-frame posts. A rear room is lined with early 17th-century panelling with a frieze of cabled fluting and a bolection-moulded fireplace beneath an overmantel featuring fluted engaged columns.

The 1590 rainwater head represents the earliest surviving example of this type in York. The building has held medical associations since at least the early 19th century, when it was owned by the Anderson family. At the end of the 19th century, it served as the residence of the noted antiquarian Dr Tempest Anderson, MD. The York Medical Society acquired the property in 1944.