THE GUILDHALL AND COUNCIL CHAMBER
The Guildhall, or common hall, (fn. 1) is first mentioned
in 1256, (fn. 2) but not until 1378 is it so described as to
reveal that it stood on the present site. (fn. 3) From at
least the late 14th century until the 17th century the
city made a small payment of wax for the Guildhall
to Durham Cathedral Priory; (fn. 4) this is perhaps to be
explained by the reputed gift of land in this vicinity
to St. Cuthbert. (fn. 5) It may be conjectured that this rent
implies an early, perhaps pre-Conquest, association
of a guild or common hall with this site. That the
guild garth of 1070-80 and the hanse-house of the
1154 Beverley charter (fn. 6) were also there is even more
conjectural, but not, on the scant evidence, impossible. (fn. 7)
The Guildhall was rebuilt and presumably enlarged in the mid-15th century; on 20 November
1445 the corporation and St. Christopher's Guild
agreed to share equally the expenses of a new hall,
and on the same day, no doubt as part of the negotiations, the guild received a grant from the corporation
of adjacent ground on which its chapel was later
built. (fn. 8) The agreement stipulated that the hall should
be 42 royal ells long, with a chamber at the west end,
a cellar at the east, and other buildings including
pantry and buttery. The guild was to have the use
of it for ten days around the feast of St. James each
year, to keep its wine in the cellar, and to share the
rents if the cellar were ever let.
The progress of the work cannot be certainly
described. (fn. 9) It had begun in the accounting year
1446-7 when the gates at the Coney Street entrance
to the lane leading to the Guildhall site were apparently built, (fn. 10) and work on the hall itself was under
way by at least 1449-50 when much Tadcaster stone
was bought. (fn. 11) Mason's work may have been finished
by 1453-4, (fn. 12) and the hall was sufficiently complete
for a council meeting to be held there in May 1459. (fn. 13)
Internal work had still not been finished in 1503
when the corporation was seeking delivery of wainscots 'towards the selyng' of the hall and council
chamber within it: (fn. 14) a reference, no doubt, to
panelling for the walls. In 1909 it was said that
wainscoting to a height of five or six feet had been
removed in recent years. (fn. 15) The double-aisled timber
roof was supported by massive oak pillars and as
such is said to have been unique (see plate facing
p. 521). (fn. 16) As early as the later 15th century some of
the windows were apparently glazed, while others
were covered by wooden shutters. A stained-glass
window is first known to have been inserted about
1680, and all the wooden louvers were ordered to be
replaced by glass in 1760. Painted-glass windows
were put in during the 19th century. (fn. 17)
The chamber at the west end of the hall was
subsequently known as the Inner Room or Justice
Room, and was used for council meetings when the
commons were assembled in the Guildhall; in this
it resembled a chamber contained within the earlier
Guildhall. The cellar, again a successor of one in
the old hall, was filled in with earth in 1649 because
its dampness rotted the hall timbers. The pantry
adjoined the north wall of the Guildhall; it was used
to house prisoners at the assizes and was let to a
tenant. The buttery adjoined the south wall. (fn. 18)
Apart from occasional meetings in the Inner
Room of the Guildhall, council meetings took place
in a chamber on Ouse Bridge until 1810 when
the bridge was rebuilt. (fn. 19) In 1811 a building to replace this was erected to the south of the Inner
Room under the direction of Peter Atkinson the
younger. The upper floor was subsequently used by
the mayor and 'twenty-four' (and by the council
after 1835), the lower by the common council. A
new and larger council chamber and municipal
offices, designed by E. G. Mawbey, the city surveyor, were built on the north side of the Guildhall
in 1889-91. (fn. 20) These were occupied by the Town
Clerk's Department in 1959, most other corporation
departments being housed in St. Leonard's Place.
The Guildhall was reduced to a shell during an
air raid in 1942. It was decided in 1956 to restore the
building as an exact replica, the War Damage Commission contributing a large part of the cost. Work
started early in 1958. (fn. 21)
THE MANSION HOUSE
Proposals to build a house as a residence for the
lord mayors of York were probably being considered
in 1723. In January 1724 the corporation committee
of leases resolved that after the expiration of his
lease, James Young, lessee of the 'Cross Keys'
(formerly the Chapel of St. Christopher's Guild) (fn. 1)
should be granted only yearly leases not only because
the passage to the Guildhall was 'generally dirty by
reason of the Cross Keys being a public house' but
because of 'the city's intention of sometime building
a house there for the lord mayor'. (fn. 2) There is some
evidence that the proposals were prompted by a
desire to enhance the dignity of the lord mayors and
by the need to acquire a place where the commons
might be entertained. (fn. 3) In October 1724 the town
clerk sought to combine the proposals with one of
his own for a repository for the city's records. It was
then agreed in principle that a building should be
erected in Coney Street at a cost of £1,000 of which
the town clerk was to contribute £100 in lieu of
fines for offices. (fn. 4) A committee to supervise the building was appointed in the following December and
at the same time repairs to the Guildhall were postponed until the new house should be built. (fn. 5) In
January 1725 the building committee sought to get
possession of Sir William Robinson's house (now
occupying the corner of Duncombe Place and St.
Leonard's Place) but without success: the corporation shortly afterwards ordered them to begin work
on the new house immediately after the next Lent
assizes. (fn. 6) Lord Harley actually saw the work in progress when he passed through York in April. (fn. 7)
In March 1726 the building committee reported
to the corporation that almost all the £1,000 voted
to them had been spent; further funds had to be
found both then and on numerous other occasions. (fn. 8)
By this time a good part of the fabric had been completed and some meetings were held there. In
December a custodian or porter was appointed to
clean the house and light fires. (fn. 9) In February 1727
the committee was criticized for the slow progress
being made on the house but it was not completed
until 1730 when the first lord mayor to live in the
building moved in. (fn. 10) Even then the work was not
entirely completed, for decoration and furnishing
of the state room took place in 1732. (fn. 11)
The records of the building committee have not
survived and no contemporary reference to the
architect or builder has been found. It has frequently
been assigned to the hand of Burlington not only
because of his close association with Yorkshire but
because in September 1732 he was offered the freedom of the city. A similar offer was made, almost
at the same time, to Charles Howard, Earl of Carlisle, but the services they had rendered the city are
not specified. (fn. 12) Between 1730 and 1732 Burlington
was building the Assembly Rooms: a comparison
between the buildings is sufficient to reject the
ascription on grounds of style alone. The lack of
documentary evidence, however, has given rise to
much controversy (fn. 13) but it is perhaps not without
significance that Drake, who was under considerable
obligation to Burlington, (fn. 14) and who was composing
his work in the early 1730's, does not mention the
Mansion House in connexion with his patron. (fn. 15)
In 1736 Drake said that 'those of our magistrates
who have proper homes of their own seldom remove
hither' (fn. 16) but as far as is known the lord mayors have
resided there from the middle of the 18th century.
In Drake's time also the lord mayor entertained a
considerable household at the Mansion House: a
chaplain (usually the minister of the parish), the town
clerk 'with his man or men', the sword-bearer, four
'officers at mace' (who had formerly been six) and
various menial servants. (fn. 17)
The house is built of brick faced with rusticated
plaster-work on the ground floor at the front (see
plate facing this page). Four Ionic pilasters support
a pediment containing the city arms. On the northwest corner at ground level a gate opens upon a passage leading under the house to the Guildhall. A
semi-basement is entirely occupied by kitchens and
offices; the ground floor contains a dining-room,
robing-room, and butler's pantry while on the first
floor a state or banqueting room runs across the
front of the building; the remaining floor is occupied
by bedrooms. (fn. 18)
An inscription reading 'Haec moenia surgunt in
honorem civium Eboracensium 1726, Samuele
Clarke, majore' is set at the foot of the central
window of the first floor in some prints but is no
longer to be seen on the building. (fn. 19) The house has
not been altered in any major respect since it was
built. In 1732 the mayor was given an allowance of
£5 towards putting the garden belonging to the
house in order; the garden perhaps lay at the back
of the building where there is now a small parking
space for cars. (fn. 20)