De Grey Rooms And Attached Gates, Railings And Lamp Standards

De Grey Rooms and attached gates, railings and lamp standards, York

Subscription rooms with attached front railings, carriage gates and lamp standards, now used as municipal rooms. Built 1841–42, designed by GT Andrews.

The building is constructed with white painted Roman cement to the front, rusticated on the ground floor, and orange-grey brick in English garden-wall bond to the rear, with the first floor partly weatherboarded. The roof is slate with a hipped clerestory to part and brick stacks. Cast-iron gates, railings and lamp standards stand on a low stone plinth.

The front elevation has 2 storeys and basement with a 7-bay façade. The 5 centre bays project between recessed end bays. At the left end is a square-arched carriageway with double gates. The basement has unequal 12-pane sash windows. A flat bridge spans the basement area and leads to the right of the centre entrance with double doors of raised and fielded panelling. Ground floor windows are inset 1-pane sashes with sills. The first floor has tall round-headed windows with continuously moulded architraves; the centre windows have pediment hoods on scroll consoles. A heavy moulded cornice on massive grooved brackets spans the centre bays, with moulded cornices over fasciated friezes to the end bays. Five centre windows are fronted by a continuous balcony with cast-iron balustrade; the outer bays have similar balconies. The rear elevation curves across 2 and 3 storeys, with a 2-storey weatherboarded part that is jettied. Ground floor windows are unequal 42-pane sashes; first and second floor windows are 20-pane sashes, all with stone sills and flat brick arches. The weatherboarded part has 20-pane sashes with timber sills.

Interior features include an open string staircase to the first floor with a cast-iron grapevine balustrade and serpentine handrail wreathed at the foot on a shaped curtail step. The first-floor landing has a moulded cornice. A large room contains three doorcases with panelled double doors in architraves with panelled reveals and moulded cornice overdoors on enriched consoles with wheatear pendants. Panelled window shutters are present. Two fireplaces, now blocked, have plain surrounds with cornice shelves on paired consoles. A dado rail enriched with Greek key and flower mouldings runs around the room, with panel surrounds above similarly enriched and paterae at the corners. An enriched cornice to the coffered ceiling is carried on massive scrolled corbels; beam soffits are moulded with Greek key, with central panels glazed and outer panels enclosing chrysanthemum mouldings. A small room has an apsidal end, moulded dado rail and moulded panel walls. The main doorcase repeats those in the large room; panelled window shutters are present; the ceiling is enriched with 3 bands of mouldings.

The railings have mushroom finials and mace-head standards with bracing to the ground floor walls. The carriage gates are of the same railings, strengthened with curved braces. Gate posts are square-section with panelled sides and foliate finials. Similar piers support tapered hexagonal gas lamps on fluted shafts with crossbars.

The rooms were built by public subscription at the instigation of the Earl de Grey, Commanding Officer of the Yorkshire Hussars, to provide a venue for the Regiment's Annual Mess and to supplement accommodation at The Assembly Rooms, Blake Street.