Description

YORK

SE6052SW EXHIBITION SQUARE
1112-1/27/312 (West side)
24/06/83 Headmaster's house
(Formerly Listed as:
EXHIBITION SQUARE
Principal's house of the former
School for the Blind)

GV II

House of the Headmaster of the Yorkshire School for the Blind
at the King's Manor (qv); now university offices. 1899. By
Walter Brierley.
MATERIALS: front of limestone ashlar with patches of brick and
brick gables; stone quoins, dressings and doorcases; rear and
returns of pink-cream brick in English bond; steeply pitched
roof of plain tiles with stone coping and banks of brick
stacks with stone strings and cornices. 4-light window in flat
topped dormer at front, two at rear.
EXTERIOR: 2 storeys and attics; 5-bay front, 2 gabled bays
alternating with 3 full-height square projecting bays; 1
subsidiary bay beneath lower roof at left end: chamfered
plinth. Right of centre bay has keyed round arch on panelled
pilasters to recessed porch, carved spandrels and flanking
columns supporting entablature with obelisk finials at the
column heads. At rear of tunnel-vaulted porch is door of
linenfold panels with original door furniture: in side walls,
semicircular niches with shell canopies. On first floor is
3-light window, and in gabled attic, squat Venetian window.
Gabled left of centre bay has similar attic window and two
3-light windows on both ground and first floors. Square bays
have 5-light ground and first floor windows. End left bay
contains panelled door with original door furniture in
doorcase with moulded cornice: 3-light window on first floor.
Moulded cornice extends width of front above ground floor
openings. Moulded eaves cornice runs beneath brick parapet
over left end bay and stone parapets over projecting bays: all
have moulded stone copings. Over centre bay parapet coping
rises as round-arched head of panel enclosing defaced carving
of the Royal Arms. All windows have hollow chamfered mullions
and transoms: all are square latticed casements or top hung
lights, with original furniture.
Rear: 2 storeys and attics; lower 2-storey gabled staircase
projection at centre left; short 1-storey L-shaped range at
left end. Wooden framed windows are 2-,3- or 4-lights, some
with transoms, beneath flat arches of narrow orange soldier
bricks, either with stone sills or moulded brick sill band to
first floor windows at each end. Most are square lattice
casements or top hung lights, some replacements without leaded
lights.
INTERIOR: not fully inspected but many original fittings

survive intact. Main staircase has deep moulded close string,
turned balusters and square newels. Secondary staircase has
fine wrought-iron balustrade.

Listing NGR: SE6003852231

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26549170

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)