118 AND 120, MICKLEGATE

This is a significant town house dating to around 1740, with later alterations from the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and restored in 1968. It was originally built for Robert Bower. The front of the building is constructed of mottled brick in a Flemish bond pattern, with a prominent brick dentil eaves course, orange-red brick dressings, and a timber doorcase. A stone-coped parapet with terminal piers disguises a slate roof, which is hipped at the front, with a brick ridge stack.

The building is three storeys and has an attic, presenting a three-window front. A distinctive open-pedimented Doric doorcase features engaged columns and a door of raised and fielded panels, surmounted by a radial fanlight. Twelve-pane sash windows are present on the ground and first floors; the ground floor windows replaced a late 19th-century shopfront. Six-pane sash windows are above. All windows have painted stone sills and flat arches constructed with gauged brick. Bands of raised brick delineate the first and second floor levels. A gabled dormer window is incorporated into the attic roof. The rear elevation is of brick with a stone cope, featuring a gabled wall with a three-window arrangement. A six-panel door with a divided overlight is positioned on the left side, while windows feature flat arches of gauged brick. Raised bands of brick mark the first and second floors, and a brick dentil eaves course sits beneath the attic window with its six-pane sash. Rainwater pipes have fleur-de-lys clamps.

The interior retains numerous original features. A cantilevered staircase rises from the cellars to the attic, with turned balusters (three per tread, every third one twisted) and a moulded, serpentine handrail, wreathed at the foot around a turned newel. The stairwell floor is made of marble mosaic. The front room on the ground floor has a dado rail, moulded raised panelling, and a dentil cornice. A notable chimney-piece has an eared fire surround, an enriched frieze, and a cornice shelf. Above the mantel is a painted seascape by Adam Willaerts, with matching doorcases flanking the fireplace. The front room on the first floor features a plain dado, moulded fielded panelling, and a modillion cornice. The chimney-piece here has an eared fire surround, a replacement grate, a foliate frieze with a relief-moulded mask in the centre, and an overmantel with moulded classical figures in a vine guilloche border, topped by a swan-necked pediment broken by a garlanded urn. Original panelled shutters remain. Rear rooms are also panelled. One rear room incorporates a marble fireplace with a foliate arabesque frieze, cornice, and raised eared surround. The second floor retains original fireplaces and fittings but lacks panelling.