Former Office Building at Williamson's Varnish Works is a Grade II listed building in the North Yorkshire local planning authority area, England. First listed on 16 January 1991. Office building.

Former Office Building at Williamson's Varnish Works

WRENN ID
lesser-spandrel-juniper
Grade
II
Local Planning Authority
North Yorkshire
Constituency
Skipton and Ripon MP: Sir Julian Smith (Con)
Country
England
Date first listed
16 January 1991
Type
Office building
Address
Former Office Building at Williamson's Varnish Works, Low Skellgate, Ripon
OS grid reference
SE 310 710
Coordinates
54.13408, -1.52624
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The former office building at Williamson's Varnish Works in Ripon was constructed in 1925. It is made of red brick with terracotta dressings and features a hipped plain-tile roof with two wall stacks. The building is two storeys tall plus an attic and has a south river front that consists of nine bays with outer pilasters. The central three-bay gabled section has flanking painted pilaster strips with moulded coping. It includes three windows above a terracotta panel inscribed "VARNISH AND ENAMEL WORKS: ESTABLISHED 1775," followed by three more windows above a similar panel inscribed "T & R WILLIAMSON LTD," and a large Diocletian window with a painted surround and ornate keystone.

The west front has four bays, with the central two bays gabled and flanked by external stacks. It features four windows, with a painted terracotta panel inscribed "T & R WILLIAMSON LTD 1775-1925" above the central two windows. The central gable includes a round-headed attic window. The rear north front has ten bays, with a projecting two-bay gabled centre defined by pilasters. An off-centre doorway has double doors within a gabled terracotta surround inscribed "1925," above two stepped windows and a semicircular window. On either side, there are pairs of windows with two and three-light dormers above.

Local climate

Former Office Building at Williamson's Varnish Works receives an average of 810 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 50% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 69% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 43 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 84% of listed buildings. Of these, 22 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

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