9 And 11, Low Ousegate

Two houses, situated at 9 and 11 Low Ousegate, York, were originally separate buildings but have since been combined and feature a restaurant on the ground floor. No. 9 dates to the early 19th century with later 19th and 20th century alterations. No. 11 possesses a 17th-century core, with a front block constructed in the early 18th century and refronted in 1776 (as indicated by a rainwater head), further modified in later years. A 20th-century inn front now extends across both properties.

No. 9 is constructed with a front facade of orange-black mottled brick in Flemish bond, topped with a dentilled timber eaves cornice. The rear is pink-grey mottled brick in English garden-wall bond, covered by a double span pantile roof with brick stacks. No. 11’s front is painted brick in Flemish bond, featuring a timber dentil and modillion eaves cornice. The rear is red brick in irregular bond. The front of No. 11 has a slate roof with a brick stack, while the rear has a pantile roof.

The front of No. 9 has three stories and one window. No. 11 has a front of three stories and an attic, with two windows. No. 9’s first floor features a canted bay window with casements and coloured glass transom lights. The second floor has an enlarged cross window beneath a flat arch of gauged brick. No. 11’s first and second floors have sash windows with 6-pane upper sashes over 1-pane lower sashes, all within flat arches of gauged brick. A flat-topped dormer window, featuring a squat 6-pane sash window, is present in the attic, with a dated inverted bell rainwater head at the right end of the cornice.

The rear of No. 9 has three stories and one window. The ground floor is obscured by later construction. A margin-glazed 4-pane sash window is visible on the first floor and a 16-pane sash on the second floor, both with soldier brick arches. The rear of No. 11 has three stories and a gabled attic. A visible unequal 12-pane sash window is on the second floor, and a 20th-century replacement window is in the attic, beneath a cambered brick arch.

Inside No. 9, a close string staircase featuring slender turned balusters and a moulded, ramped-up handrail connects the first and second floors. A 6-panel door leads into the front room on the first floor, where a moulded cornice remains. No. 11's staircase, leading to the attic, displays a moulded close string, turned balusters, square newels with attached half balusters, and a heavy moulded handrail. The front room on the first floor retains bolection moulded panelling. A subdivided room at the rear retains moulded intersecting beams and a moulded cornice. The second floor features three reeded doorcases with angle blocks; the front room has a 6-panelled door and a mid-19th century fireplace. The attic's landing and rear room have gypsum plaster floors. A 3-panel door in a studded partition wall survives within the rear room, and a fragment of timber-framed wall is visible behind a later brick outer wall, over the stairwell. The roofs feature collared rafters laid on purlins. The upper parts of the buildings were noted as being in poor condition at the time of the survey. No. 9 is included in the list for the first time.