The Kings Manor

The King's Manor is a complex of buildings in Exhibition Square with a remarkably layered history spanning five centuries. Originally built as the abbot's house of St Mary's Abbey between 1483 and 1502, it served as offices for the King's Council of the North and an occasional royal residence from 1539 to 1641. After the Civil War it was subdivided into multiple occupation from 1660 to 1812, then functioned as the Manor National School from 1813 to 1922 and the Yorkshire School for the Blind from 1833 to 1958. Since 1964 it has formed part of the University of York.

The abbot's house was first rebuilt between 1483 and 1502. A porch and block of chambers (now flats) were added between 1561 and 1563. The Huntington Room with a kitchen below was added around 1590. Major remodelling occurred between 1610 and 1620, when the abbot's house was updated and a hall, gallery and anteroom range were constructed, along with an outer west range (of which cellars survive) and extensions to the chambers block. Some rebuilding and repair of Civil War damage took place in 1682. The 15th-century range underwent alterations, partial refenestration and re-roofing in the 18th century. The building was remodelled and partly rebuilt as school buildings by JB and W Atkinson around 1870, with further alterations around 1900 by WH Brierley. Fielden and Mawson undertook restoration, some rebuilding and modernisation in 1963-64.

The abbot's house is timber-framed, encased in orange-brown brick laid in random bond with some brick diapering, standing on a moulded limestone plinth. The left return was faced in ashlar around 1900, retaining a 15th-century terracotta window of three segment-headed transomed lights. The gable ends feature tumbled brickwork. The porch extension and chamber block are constructed of re-used magnesian limestone ashlar and orange-brown brick with stone quoins. The 16th- and 17th-century extensions are of magnesian limestone ashlar. Post-Civil War rebuilding used orange brick in random bond. The 19th-century school buildings are partly red brick in an English garden-wall bond variant, partly ashlar. The refectory staircase from around 1900 is of concrete. 20th-century buildings are orange brick in stretcher bond, banded with concrete. The abbot's house roof is covered in plain tiles edged with stone slates; other roofs are plain tile or pantile with stone copings. Brick stacks are variously positioned, several set diagonally. The abbot's house and porch extension are enclosed by a low stone parapet above a coved eaves cornice.

The front of the abbot's house presents a two-storey range, partly with an attic, featuring irregular fenestration and a diagonal buttress at the right end. Left of centre, double doors occupy a round-arched doorcase with a strapwork frieze and moulded cornice supported by herms on high pedestals bearing defaced IR cyphers; above is a pedimented moulded panel enclosing the Royal Arms and initials CR. Right of centre is a reset round-arched doorcase in its original opening, flanked by herms on high pedestals matching the first door, with a fretwork frieze and moulded cornice, spandrels carved with female figures, and a soffit decorated with jewel mouldings. Four two-light windows on the ground floor are mullioned; other multi-light windows are transomed or double transomed. At centre right is one squat two-light attic window. Two window surrounds to the right of the central stack are covered with early 19th-century Roman cement. At the left end of the first floor is the round-headed terracotta window. Various elliptical brick arches are visible in the fabric. Two external chimney stacks feature: one corbelled from the first floor, the other full height with moulded strings and weathering.

The rear of the entrance range facing the first courtyard presents two storeys and attics in a three-window centre range flanked by four-window wings, with the porch extension set in the re-entrant angle with the right wing. A chamfered doorway has been inserted in the centre beneath a projecting stack carried on cogged brick corbels and rising through the first floor. To the left is a blocked quoined doorway with a shaped lintel and a two-light window further left; a similar window sits at the far right. On the first floor, an original three-light window in a quoined surround is interrupted by an external stack; to the left is an inserted cross window, and to the right a restored five-light window in a quoined surround, all beneath a moulded string stepped over the windows and broken by the stack. Early windows feature ovolo-moulded surrounds. The gabled extension incorporates a re-used moulded and chamfered plinth. A blocked original doorway in a moulded hollow chamfered surround occupies the ground floor. First floor and attic windows are of three lights with chamfered mullions. The left side has an inserted doorway to the right of a two-light window, both in chamfered surrounds.

The wing to the right (north) features a shallow projecting porch with a glazed and panelled door in a restored moulded surround with a depressed arched head. To the right is a blocked door arch of moulded brick with a two-centred head, and further right are two two-light windows. To the left are two similar windows and at the left end a small inserted one-light window. On the first floor, three windows are of two lights, one with a segmental brick arch altered from a former door, and one window is of four lights with a king mullion. Mullions and surrounds are ovolo moulded. The wing to the left (south) has 20th-century board doors on strap hinges in chamfered openings at centre and right end. Ground floor windows are inserted or restored and are of two lights. On the first floor, windows are of two, three and five lights in chamfered, hollow-chamfered or ovolo-moulded surrounds, one of 16th-century rendered moulded brick. The gable end stands on a moulded and chamfered plinth. The ground floor window is of three lights in a double hollow-chamfered opening; a similar restored window of five lights has a return stopped hoodmould. Windows are diamond or square lattice casements or divided vertically into four panes by iron glazing bars. Unless indicated otherwise, windows are mullioned, those on the first floor transomed; attic windows are gabled or half-hipped dormers with two-light casements.

The gallery range presents a two-storey four-window front flanked by two-window wings, the south wing connected to the abbot's house by a linking porch and rebuilt staircase. A central semicircular passage arch is flanked by tapered pilasters beneath a moulded cornice, with spandrels and pilasters carved with strapwork; above is a pedimented panel with a round-arched head bearing the crested arms of Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford. Windows on both floors are of four mullioned lights, with similar fenestration to the north wing. An arcaded frieze beneath a moulded cornice runs above the ground floor windows and returns on the north wing. The south wing has two double chamfered semicircular arches blocked by multi-light windows on the ground floor; on the first floor are two four-light windows. Windows have ovolo mouldings; first floor windows are transomed. The porch bay is approached by an external staircase with squat balusters and flat coping on square piers with ball finials. On the first floor, a round-arched doorway is flanked by tapered pilasters carved with strapwork supporting an entablature and pedimented achievement of Stuart arms in a round-headed panel. A wrought-iron weathervane with a KM pennant stands on the gable end.

The rear of the gallery range facing the second courtyard presents a two-storey five-window front, gabled at the north end. The south range is of two storeys of varying heights, five bays, terminating in a 16th-century gatehouse with an attic. The west range is of two storeys on a high basement, 14 bays, with a two-storey cross-gabled return at the north end. The courtyard is completed by a two-storey five-bay school extension to the north end of the gallery range, with a gabled centre bay and a pent-roofed bay at the end. The gabled return and school extension are linked by a one-storey seven-bay covered way forming the northern boundary of the courtyard. The rear of the gallery range has a doorway with a moulded four-centred head in a square-headed surround and, further north, a blocked doorway with a keyblock. Windows are of two, three and four lights, ovolo-moulded. The south range has a blocked doorway adjacent to the gallery range. Windows generally are of two lights on the ground floor, of three or four lights with transoms on the first floor, those in the centre block being gabled half dormers. The gatehouse has a four-centred arch with a three-light window above and a half-hipped attic dormer with a similar window; traces of 17th-century windows remain on the outer side. In the west range, the 17th-century basement retains ovolo-moulded windows and a moulded string stepped up over a 20th-century door. Two external flights of concrete stairs lead to glazed doors on the first floor; 20th-century aluminium windows slide horizontally. The 19th-century bay at the north end has a 20th-century door on the ground floor and a three-light mullioned and transomed window on the first floor. The school extension has an inserted 20th-century door; one- and two-light windows are ovolo-moulded, some with transoms, with square-lattice glazing, in surrounds of contrasting stone. The covered way has a chamfered ogee-arched doorway at each end; between are five arcades of segment-headed lights separated by short gabled pilaster buttresses. The wall is capped with a moulded coping.

The chambers block and extension are of two storeys and attics with a five-bay front, two bays gabled. The central doorway is quoined and chamfered with a sunk-panelled door. To the left are two three-light square lattice casement windows with ovolo mullions in hollow chamfered surrounds; to the right are three 18-pane sashes. First floor windows are five 18-pane sashes, mostly original. The gables have two-light attic windows, one in a double chamfered surround, one ovolo moulded. At the rear is a two-storey parallel extension with gabled attics and a four-window front on a moulded plinth. Windows on the ground floor are three-light, on the first floor three- or four-light, in the attic two-light; surrounds and mullions are ovolo moulded. The right side shows paired gable ends of the chambers block and extension, of two storeys with attics. The original block has a two-storey polygonal bay window on a chamfered plinth. Window side lights are blocked on both floors; ground floor windows are 18-pane sashes, first floor cross-windows with diamond lattice casements. On both floors, windows have coved cornices, with a plain parapet over the first floor. The extension range has a former door altered to a two-light window on the ground floor and a three-light window on the first floor. In both ranges, attic windows are of two diamond latticed lights in ovolo moulded surrounds.

The early 17th-century extension is of three storeys with attics and a three-bay front on a chamfered plinth. The two upper storeys are articulated by tiered brick pilasters with stone bases beneath moulded brick entablatures. The outer bays are gabled and joined by a flat parapet over the centre bay; gables enclose glazed oeils de boeuf. The ground floor has a three-light window flanked by one-light windows. The first floor has three cross-windows, the centre one recessed beneath a one-course segmental brick arch. The second floor has three mullioned windows. Windows are square latticed in ovolo-moulded or chamfered stone surrounds. The right return has an inserted doorway on the ground floor, a blocked window on the second floor, and a 20th-century flat dormer with a five-light window to the attic.

Inside the abbot's house, some timber-framed partition walls are retained in the front range. A number of 15th- and 16th-century moulded doorways with depressed four-centred arched heads survive in various places. Original and reset fireplaces include the following: on the ground floor, in the end left room an 18th-century timber carved surround; in the end right room an early 17th-century surround sunk carved with jewel motifs; in the room beneath the Huntington Room, a wide kitchen hearth with a segmental brick arch. On the first floor in the south wing, one fireplace is of moulded brick, one of moulded stone, one of stone with a chamfered brick arch; the Huntington Room has a surround of carved stone pilasters and an arch of voussoirs. Fine ceilings include the following: a room on the ground floor, the room above and part of the Huntington Room are panelled with 15th-century moulded beams; the room beneath the Huntington Room has 16th-century moulded beams; a room on the first floor is fitted with an elaborate early 17th-century plaster ceiling saved from a demolished house in North Street. Other important fittings include a plaster frieze depicting Huntington heraldic motifs in the Huntington Room and 18th-century graffiti on the window glass.

In the gallery range, on the ground floor, a round-arched stairhall doorway is carved with heraldic flowers with a heavy moulded entablature and cornice on elaborate voluted brackets. A 17th-century stone staircase has roll moulded coping to the balustrade. On the first floor, a fireplace in the anteroom is enriched with jewel ornament. The doorway to the Huntington Room has a pedimented entablature flanked by squat pyramid finials on carved pedestals. The hall on the first floor has a chamfered fireplace with a four-centred head and an early 18th-century octagonal ceiling lantern.

In the west range, early 17th-century vaulted cellars survive. A reset 14th-century two-centred arched doorway with colonnette jamb shafts beneath a damaged crocketed gable filled with blind tracery is present.