22 AND 23, SHAMBLES (See details for further address information)

This is a pair of early 18th-century shops and offices, located on the Shambles in York. Numbers 22 and 23 incorporate the former shop at number 23 1/2, now incorporated into number 22. The building has undergone alterations in the 19th and 20th centuries, including replacement shopfronts.

The front elevation is of orange-red brick in Flemish bond, with the lower storeys of the right return constructed of magnesian limestone, and the upper storeys and rear wing of orange-red brick in English garden-wall bond. The roofs are tiled with pantiles, and include brick stacks.

The three-storey, four-window front incorporates a chamfered, round-arched passage on the right end of the ground floor, leading to Whip-ma-whop-ma-gate. The shopfronts have a continuous moulded cornice. Number 22 has a plate glass window and a glazed and panelled door with overlight to the left. Number 23 has a renewed board door with a glazed iron grille above and a large-pane sash window to the right. First and second-floor windows are 12-pane sashes with stone sills and flat arches of gauged brick. A moulded band and eaves cornice of painted stone are also present.

The rear of the building has a flat arched passage leading to a 20th-century small-pane window. The right return incorporates the former north wall of the Church of St Crux, and the attic features two squat, six-pane sash windows. A rear wing has a three-storey, four-window front, featuring a six-panel door beneath an elliptical brick arch, and above that, a round-arched staircase window with a renewed stone sill. The shopfront to the right features plain pilasters, moulded imposts, a frieze and cornice, a small-pane window over a panelled riser and a margin-glazed and panelled door. Windows at the right end of all floors have been altered to small-pane lights. Most rear and side windows are 12-pane sashes with stone sills and elliptical brick arches. Continuous bands of raised brick encircle the building at the first and second floor levels, and the eaves.

The interior includes 19th-century fittings, including two stick baluster staircases, as documented by the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments.