York House Hotel

The York House Hotel is a symmetrical terrace of houses, later adapted for use as a hotel and incorporating shops, built between 1755 and 1759. The land was auctioned for building leases in October 1753, and the development was designed by John Wood the Younger. Constructed from limestone ashlar, the building has a steep, double-pitched slate roof with eleven dormers and five truncated, moulded stacks to the party walls and right side.

The symmetrical terrace is three storeys high with attics and basements, presenting nineteen windows to the front. It features a returned, coped parapet and a modillion cornice. The upper floor windows are framed by moulded architraves, with those on the first floor further accentuated by a continuous sill band and cornices. The reveals of the windows have been chamfered, and the ground floor incorporates a platband and plinth. Plate glass sash windows are visible throughout.

The central section of the terrace steps forward and has seven windows; the window in the very centre of the whole terrace is wider on each floor and is now a two-pane sash over a doorcase, likely from the early 19th century. The door within this doorcase has been replaced with a window and is surmounted by a cornice and blocking course. A prostyle Tuscan porch, likely dating to the 19th century, is situated to the right of the central section, incorporating a semicircular arch over a blocked door.

The left-hand section, set back from the street, has six windows and a lead rainwater downpipe on its right side. The right-hand section, No.2 York Buildings, which is not part of the hotel, also features six windows. Set-back doors, with overlights under pediments on consoles, are positioned to either side; these are likely the original house entrances. Carved into the platband between the doors is the inscription “THE OLD POST OFFICE.”

The return elevation facing Broad Street has five tripartite windows on the second floor, with six-pane sashes in the centre, and five Venetian windows on the first and ground floors, featuring plate glass sashes. All windows in the right-hand corner are blind. The downhill slope of Broad Street creates a lower ground floor, with the two left-hand ranges displaying Gothic glazing bars to the Venetian windows. A wide shopfront in a 20th-century Regency style marks a former tavern.

The south frontage onto a yard has numerous sash windows, including three large tripartite windows above double carriage doors that illuminate a former Assembly Room. The interior of the building was not inspected and is understood to have been extensively refurbished, resulting in significant alterations. No.2 York Buildings, presently unoccupied, was also listed on August 11, 1972. The design follows a conventional Palladian plan, and the Broad Street return elevation shares characteristics with other developments by John Wood the Younger, such as Brock Street or Rivers Street.