Numbers 10, 12 And 14 And Carriage Gates Attached To Number 14

Numbers 10, 12 and 14 and Carriage Gates attached to Number 14, Lendal, York

A pair of early 18th-century houses, now converted to offices, shops and a bank, with carriage gates of circa 1890 attached to the rear of the carriageway beneath Number 14.

The buildings are constructed of orange-brown brick laid in Flemish bond. Numbers 10 and 12 feature ashlar doorcases and porches of reconstituted stone at ground floor level. The front has a timber eaves cornice, while the rear has a plain brick parapet with stone coping. A double-span roof is tiled to the front and slate to the rear, with truncated brick stacks, one rendered. One gable to the rear range is shaped. Two gabled dormers with 4-pane sash windows light Numbers 10 and 12.

The front elevation presents three storeys with eight windows. To the right of centre stands a Tuscan porch with fluted frieze and angle roundels, containing double doors of raised panels bordered in flutes and paterae beneath a radial fanlight, set in a round-arched architrave with imposts. The ground floor on either side is pilastered with plain fascia and moulded cornice. To the left of the porch, margin-glazed windows are set in square-headed recesses; to the right, the entrance to Number 10 comprises a door of six beaded panels with a patterned overlight in a similar recess. The left end of Number 14 has been altered to provide a flat-arched carriageway flanked by Tuscan columns and antae. The shopfront has a canted plate glass window with a blocked clerestory retaining an arched glazing bar, between recessed doorways, one of which has been altered to a window and the other fitted with a glazed and panelled door, both beneath tall small-pane overlights. First-floor windows are 4-pane sashes to Numbers 10 and 12, and 12-pane sashes to Number 14; all second-floor windows are squat 4-pane sashes. All windows feature segmental brick arches and painted stone sills. A raised band marks the second floor. The dentil and modillion eaves cornice bears a rainwater head dated 1774 in its centre, with a fallpipe on ornate clamps embossed with a blank cartouche in a Corinthian arch.

The carriage gates at the rear of the carriageway are of slim railings shaped into bands of Art Nouveau motifs.

The rear elevation rises three storeys above a basement and displays seven windows. Basement windows to Number 14 have 1-course segmental brick arches and brick sills. Upper-floor windows are segment-arched 4-pane sashes in altered openings, with a tall round-headed 8-pane sash at the left end of the first floor. Raised brick bands mark the first and second floors.

Interior of Number 10: The ground-floor stairhall has a dentil cornice. An open-string staircase leads to the first floor, featuring sunk-panel treadends, turned balusters and a serpentine moulded handrail swept at its foot onto a turned newel on a shaped curtail step. The stairwell is lined with raised and fielded dado panelling terminating in paired fluted pilasters. The staircase window has a splayed opening with a seat. The first-floor landing has a plaster ceiling with a sloped cornice enriched with acanthus and paterae, and bolection-moulded panels framing an oval centre panel. Doorcase reveals are of raised and fielded panelling. The door to the front room consists of six panels bordered in flutes and roundels. Front room door and window architraves are fluted with angle paterae or roundels; the doorcase has a shell and festoon frieze and moulded cornice. Windows retain panelled shutters. The plaster ceiling features an acanthus leaf cornice and a foliate centre panel surrounded by looped wheatear trails and medallions with masks. A shelf on shaped brackets encircles the room. The rear room has a beaded panel door, moulded dado rail, and a fireplace in a bolection-moulded surround with a pulvinated frieze and moulded cornice shelf. An early 18th-century door of raised and fielded panels in the corner leads to a closet shared with the front room. A replacement staircase to the second floor has an open string, shaped treadends, turned balusters and a serpentine handrail wreathed at its foot around a newel on a shaped curtail step. The second floor features front and back rooms to the left with coffered ceilings formed by moulded spine beams with plaster leaf moulding in each corner. The front room has a plain fireplace; the rear room's fireplace matches that in the room below. In the rear room, a 3-panel door on plank backing with an H-hinge opens to a fireside closet. A 3-panel door on the landing provides access to the attic, which has lime ash floors.

Interior of Number 12: The Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England record notes "moulded jambs of a 15th-century doorway... presumably from the Augustinian Friary".

Interior of Number 14: The building retains most of its original features, including panelling and a fireplace to the rear ground floor, and original shutters to the rear windows. A large continuous string staircase with turned balusters and moulded handrail leads to the first floor. The first floor contains a single rear room with complete early 18th-century panelling, fireplace, shutters, doors and plaster coving. The landing has a fine set of round-headed doorways with moulded surrounds and keystones, with linking ramped dado panelling. The main front room features plaster coving, shutters and a single round-headed doorway in a moulded surround. A small front room retains an original corner fireplace, dado panelling and original panelled doors. A fine original staircase to the second floor has two turned balusters per tread, ramped and moulded handrail, matching dado panelling, and round-headed doors. Second-floor rooms retain original doors, corner fireplaces and coving, with a small stair to the attic.

Historical Note: Around 1870, Number 10 became the office of J.B. and W. Atkinson, direct successors of the architect John Carr of York. James Demaine became a partner in 1877, and Walter Brierley joined in 1886 upon the death of W. Atkinson. The successors of this partnership remained in occupation at these premises at the time of survey.