Merchant Taylors Hall

MERCHANT TAYLORS' HALL, ALDWARK, YORK

A guildhall of the Merchant Taylors' Company, this building dates from around 1400 with a late 15th-century wing added later. The structure was refenestrated in the early 17th century and underwent major alterations in the early 18th century: between 1714 and 1715 it was extended, refaced and provided with a new porch; the entrance front and wing were refaced again around 1730. The building was restored with some rebuilding and further extensions during the 20th century.

The hall and wing are timber-framed but have been refaced in orange-brown and orange brick laid in random and English garden-wall bonds. The extension is of orange-brown brick, part rendered and part rebuilt. A timber porch has been added, and tile roofs with brick stacks cover the building; the hall stack has been partly rebuilt.

The building comprises a 5-bay hall with a screens passage and service bay, with a projecting extension wing. Externally, the main range consists of a 1-storey 3-bay hall with an external porch and a 2-storey service bay at the left end. A projecting 1-storey 3-bay gabled wing and parallel extension extend to the right. The porch is pedimented with 3 round-arched openings, one of which is brick-blocked; it contains a chamfered frame for the original door of ogee-arched panels with a 4-centred head and an arched wicket retaining an iron handle back plate. To the left of the porch is a 20th-century inserted cross-window beneath a segmental brick arch at ground floor level, with an early 18th-century 3-light window with central casement on H-L hinges above on the first floor. To the right of the porch are two 20th-century inserted windows flanking a rebuilt external chimney stack. The wing has a round-arched window in its gable end and a square-headed 3-light mullioned and transomed window in the left return. At the rear, a battered external stack is flanked by high 5- and 6-light timber mullion and transom windows. The left return at ground floor is obscured by a later extension, with 20th-century first-floor windows and exposed timber-framing visible in the gable end. On the right return of the hall there is a round-headed window in a round-arched stone surround with keyblock and imposts beneath a segmental pediment, flanked by 2-light windows with segmental brick arches. Behind a later extension, the wing extension retains a 3-panel door in a moulded frame and two timber mullion and transom windows.

Internally, the main door is hung on strap hinges and retains original door furniture. A plank door on similar hinges survives at the rear of the screens passage. To the left of the screens passage are two openings with 4-centred heads in chamfered frames. A reconstructed staircase retains a moulded close string, splat balusters and square newels with attached half balusters. The doorway to the hall is round-arched between sunk-panel pilasters with imposts and a moulded keyblock rising into a moulded cornice; 2-leaf doors of raised and fielded panelling are set in panelled reveals. Inside the hall, 20th-century wainscoting masks the timber-framing and incorporates reproduction 18th-century doorcases; 18th-century double doors of raised and fielded panelling survive to the wing and a 3-panel door gives access to the wing extension. A chimneypiece has a bolection moulded timber surround surmounted by the Arms of the Drapers' Company painted on a plank board with a segment-pedimented head. A reset gallery with a slender column-on-vase balustrade and panelled door on butterfly hinges is present. Painted carved Royal Arms hang over a window. The roof includes one crown post truss and 4 collared rafter trusses with moulded arch braces and inserted tie beams. Fittings in the wing are 20th-century; the windows incorporate fragments of names painted in Black Letter and coloured glass by Henry Gyles from around 1700, including the Arms of the Company.