Birdsall House

SE 86 SW 7/23 20.9.51

BIRDSALL THE PARK Birdsall House

GV II*

Country house. Late C16 origins, remodelled 1749 with addition of second storey to main range, and right wing of 1872. For the Willoughby family, the Lords Middleton. 1872 section by Salvin. Ashlar, Welsh slate roofs. Central range connected to side wings by single-cell units, with service wing to rear parallel to right wing. Main facade: central 5-bay, 3-storey range flanked by single-bay 2-storey sections linking with 2-bay, 2-storey side wings. Central section: steps up to hexastyle Tuscan portico in antis with balustrade and plain entablature. Central double-leaf 8-panel door in rusticated architrave with metope frieze and pediment, flanked by unequal 6- pane sashes in keyed architraves. First floor: 4-pane sashes in keyed architraves, the central one being eared and shouldered,with band above. Second floor: 4-pane sashes in keyed architraves. Moulded cornice. Balustrade with blind panels. Hipped roof. Linking bays each have elliptical-arched tripartite sashes and moulded cornice with 6-panel double- leaf doors in rusticated surrounds to returns. First floor set back, lit by 4-pane sashes in keyed architraves. Band and plain parapet. Side wings each have pair of elliptical-arched tripartite sashes to ground floor each in correspondence to three 4-pane sashes, with keystones breaking continuous band, to first floor. The returns towards the courtyard are similarly treated, although of one bay only. Garden facade: central 5-bay, 3-storey range flanked by 7-bay, 2-storey wings with canted central sections and additional 4-bay, 3-storey wing to left. Central section: central 3 bays break forward with rusticated pilasters. Plinth and floor bands. Steps to half-glazed door in keyed rusticated architrave with pulvinated frieze carrying pediment. 4-pane sashes in keyed architraves throughout. Central window to first floor in eared and shouldered architrave with double keystone. Moulded cornice. Balustrade with blind panels. Outer wings have 4-pane sashes in keyed architraves except round-arched openings to ground floor of canted bays. First-floor band to outer bays of left wing. Plain parapet. Left wing: 4-pane sashes beneath keystones throughout. Plain parapet. Interior: contains several fine state rooms, including oval drawing room of c1780 and ballroom of c1790. Richly carved doors to rear of house suggest that the main front was towards the garden in late C18. Work by Salvin includes Doric screen to dining room, fireplaces in Long Hall, massive wooden main stair and delicate quadripartite vaulting on first floor. The house was the first in England to have a private gas system installed. Pevsner N, Yorkshire, York and the East Riding, 1972. York Georgian Society: Annual Report 1975.

Listing NGR: SE8151164833