York Buildings

York Buildings is a terrace of seven houses built in 1827 for Joseph Roberts, a printer. Numbers 88 and 90 are now incorporated into the Edward Hotel, and the terrace connects with another similar terrace at 104 to 116 London Road. The houses are of painted stucco on brick, with slate roofs and a brick stack on each party wall. They are arranged as double-depth blocks plus rear wings. Number 78 has a slightly recessed, narrow bay on the west end, widening the house.

The exterior features an offset plinth, a continuous raised band at first-floor level, a crowning cornice with a frieze band, and a coped parapet. Each house has a doorway with a segmental arched opening, flanked by narrow sidelights and a fanlight. Fielded six-panel doors are found at numbers 78, 80, and 82. The ground-floor windows are large sash windows with 4x4 glazing bars, although some have been replaced with plain sashes. First-floor windows are sashes with 3x4 glazing bars. The recessed bay at number 78 has sashes on both floors, also with 3x4 glazing bars, all within openings with projecting stone sills.

Internally, numbers 88 and 90 retain original features including dogleg staircases with stick balusters and cylindrical newel posts. There is original plasterwork with leaf moulding, and 6-panel doors with reeded architraves, cornices, fleurons, and lions’ masks in the upper corners. Hallways feature arches with plaster corbels, and one Regency fireplace with a circular upper corner is present. The interior of the other houses was not inspected. The terrace was part of a planned larger development, but only another terrace in Hillfield Parade was realised.