York Water Gate is a Grade I listed building in the Westminster local planning authority area, England. First listed on 24 February 1958. A 1626 Water gate.
York Water Gate
- WRENN ID
- small-moulding-mint
- Grade
- I
- Local Planning Authority
- Westminster
- Constituency
- Cities of London and Westminster MP: Rachel Blake (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 24 February 1958
- Type
- Water gate
- Address
- York Water Gate, Victoria Embankment Gardens, Wc2, City of Westminster
- OS grid reference
- TQ 303 804
- Coordinates
- 51.50814, -0.12291
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
York Water Gate is a Grade I listed former Thameside water gate, built in 1626. It was executed by Nicholas Stone, with the design also attributed to Sir Balthazar Gerbier. The gate served as the water entrance to York House, where Gerbier made alterations for George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, during the same period.
Constructed from Portland stone, the gate features a tripartite monumental design in a bold Franco-Flemish Baroque style, reminiscent of the Fontaine de Medicis. The main central archway includes a flight of river steps.
The south front, which faced the river, is rusticated and has a central archway flanked by smaller arched loggias. These are supported by banded engaged Doric columns that hold up a deep entablature topped with a large broken segmental pediment, featuring lions couchant on either side. The north front has three arches with carved cartouche keystones, supported by pilasters and topped with spiked ball finials on pedestals.
Local climate
York Water Gate sits in one of the driest parts of the UK, with an average of 690 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 95% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 98% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 35 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 57% of listed buildings. Of these, 16 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
Sign in or create a free account to unlock:
- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
Similar buildings
The closest matches to this building from all 493,000 UK listed buildings, by architecture, period and materials.
this building 1 similar nearby listed buildings
Nearby listed buildings
- Gateway and railings across south end of street with retaining wall steps down to Victoria Embankment Gardens
- 14, Buckingham Street WC2
- 13, Buckingham Street WC2
- 17, Buckingham Street WC2
- 12, Buckingham Street WC2
- 18, Buckingham Street WC2
- 11, Buckingham Street WC2
- 19, Buckingham Street WC2
- 10, Buckingham Street WC2
- 6 and 7, York Buildings WC2