The plaque, attached to railings on the
left of the entrance to The King's Manor, grounds tells us:
The King's
Manor
A house was built on this site c1270 as a residence for the Abbot
of
St Mary's Abbey but was substantially rebuilt in the late 15th
century.
After the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539 it became, until
1641,
the Headquarters of the Council of the North and the residence of
its
Presidents who added to the buildings. Henry VIII, Charles I and James
I
stayed here. Since 1963 it has been occupied by the University of
York.
The University of York website [visit
link] tells us:
"The King's Manor, one of historic
York's most attractive and unusual sites, is enjoying a renaissance which is
both physical and intellectual.
As the city-centre premises of the
University of York, the King's Manor has a sure place in the future. The staff
of Archaeology, Medieval Studies and Eighteenth Century Studies have built up
unparalleled reputations through innovative teaching and world-leading research,
characteristics which have become the hallmark of the
University.
And this group of largely Grade I
medieval buildings is a vivid evocation of the past. Originally the Abbot's
House of St Mary's Abbey, the King's Manor served the Tudors and Stuarts as a
seat of government, becoming residences in the 18th century and a school in the
19th. The history of the King's Manor weaves a continuous thread in the history
of York since medieval times.
Following the Dissolution of the
monasteries, the Manor was retained by the Crown and allocated to the Council of
the North. It became the official residence of the President of the Council in
1561 and was gradually enlarged and extended westwards. Much of the building
work was done during the reign of Elizabeth I.
In the late 16th century, under the
Earl of Huntingdon (President of the Council from 1572 to 95), residential wings
and a service building were added. Ashlar work in the Manor after the 1560s is
of reused stone from St Mary's Abbey. The Huntingdon Room in the Elizabethan
extension has an impressive plaster frieze with the arms of Henry Hastings, Earl
of Huntingdon.
The Stuarts stayed regularly at the
Manor en route from Edinburgh to London, and in their time a new U-shaped
building created the present, curiously irregular first courtyard. The 17th
century Council Chamber is now the Refectory. The decorative doorway at the main
entrance is Jacobean.
The abolition of the Council in
1641 halted building, beginning two centuries of retrenchment. After 1688, the
Manor was leased out, divided into apartments and gradually
declined.
The foundation in 1833 of the
Yorkshire School for the Blind marked a new start. From the 1870s the Manor was
gradually restored and enlarged by the architects JB and W Atkinson and Walter
Brierley. In the 1890s they built a gymnasium and a cloister to create the
second courtyard. The Principal's house, now home to the Centre for Medieval
Studies, was built in 1900.
On the departure of the Blind
School in 1958, the Manor was acquired by York City Council, who leased it to
the University in 1963 which used it to house the Institute for Advanced
Architectural Studies. A major restoration by Feilden & Mawson swept away
many service buildings and replaced an 1880s schoolroom with a modern tutorial
block, now occupied by the Department of Archaeology, which incorporates the
former Institute and its world-famous Conservation Studies MA.
The King's Manor has been the
backdrop to many facets of University life - even, in the 1960s, to a student
bar. There has been a unity of purpose in bringing together areas of scholarship
at the University of York which have a common interest in the study of the
cultural environment."
The building is Grade I listed with the
entry at the English Heritage website [visit
link] telling us:
"Formerly known as: The King's
Manor and The Abbot's House EXHIBITION SQUARE. Abbot's house of St Mary's Abbey
(remains in Museum Gardens, qv); offices of the King's Council of the North and
occasional royal residence 1539-1641; subdivided in multiple occupation
1660-1812; Manor National School 1813-1922 and Yorkshire School for the Blind
1833-1958; part of the University of York from 1964. Abbot's house rebuilt
1483-1502. Porch and block of chambers, now flats, added 1561-63. Huntington
Room with kitchen below added c1590. Abbot's house remodelled; hall, gallery and
anteroom range, outer west range of which cellars survive, and extensions to
chambers block added 1610-20. Some rebuilding and repair of Civil War damage
1682. Alterations, part refenestration and re-roofing of C15 range in C18.
Remodelled and rebuilt as school buildings by JB and W Atkinson c1870; further
alteration c1900 by WH Brierley. Restoration, some rebuilding and modernisation
by Fielden and Mawson 1963-64.
MATERIALS: Abbot's house
timber-framed encased in orange-brown brick in random bond with some brick
diapering and on moulded limestone plinth; faced on left return in ashlar c1900,
retaining C15 terracotta window of 3 segment-headed transomed lights. Tumbled
brick gable ends. Porch extension and chamber block of re-used magnesian
limestone ashlar and orange-brown brick with stone quoins. C16 and C17
extensions of magnesian limestone ashlar. Post-Civil War rebuilding in orange
brick in random bond. C19 school buildings partly red brick in English
garden-wall bond variant, partly ashlar. Refectory staircase c1900 of concrete.
C20 buildings of orange brick in stretcher bond, banded with concrete. Roof to
Abbot's house of plain tiles edged in stone slates; other roofs of plain tile or
pantile, with stone copings; brick stacks, several diagonally set. Abbot's house
and porch extension enclosed in low stone parapet above coved eaves cornice.
EXTERIOR: ABBOT'S HOUSE FRONT: 2
storey range part with attic; irregular fenestration and diagonal buttress at
right end. Left of centre double doors in round-arched doorcase with strapwork
frieze and moulded cornice supported by herms on high pedestals bearing defaced
IR cyphers; above, pedimented moulded panel enclosing the Royal Arms and
initials CR. Right of centre reset round-arched doorcase in original opening,
flanked by herms on high pedestals as first door, with fretwork frieze and
moulded cornice, spandrels carved with female figures, soffit with jewel
mouldings. Four 2-light windows on ground floor
are mullioned, other multi-light windows are transomed or double transomed: at
centre right, one squat 2-light attic window. Two window surrounds to right of
central stack covered with early C19 Roman cement. At left end of first floor is
round-headed terracotta window. Various elliptical brick arches are visible in
the fabric. Two external chimney stacks, one corbelled from first floor, the
other full height with moulded strings and weathering.
FIRST COURTYARD: rear of entrance
range: 2 storeys and attics; 3-window centre range flanked by 4-window wings;
porch extension in re-entrant with right wing. Chamfered doorway inserted in
centre beneath projecting stack carried on cogged brick corbels and rising
through first floor. To left, blocked quoined doorway with shaped lintel and
2-light window further left: similar window at far right. On first floor,
original 3-light window in quoined surround is broken by external stack: to left
is an inserted cross window, to right restored 5-light window in quoined
surround: all beneath moulded string stepped over windows and broken by stack.
Early windows have ovolo-moulded surrounds. Gabled extension incorporates
re-used moulded and chamfered plinth. Blocked original doorway in moulded hollow
chamfered surround on ground floor. First floor and attic windows are of 3
lights with chamfered mullions. Left side has inserted doorway to right of
2-light window, both in chamfered surrounds.
WING TO RIGHT (NORTH): shallow
projecting porch has glazed and panelled door in restored moulded surround with
depressed arched head. To right, blocked door arch of moulded brick with
2-centred head: further right, two 2-light windows: to left, two similar windows
and at left end small inserted 1-light window. On first floor, three windows are
of 2 lights, one with segmental brick arch altered from former door; one window
is of 4 lights with king mullion. Mullions and surrounds are ovolo moulded.
WING TO LEFT (SOUTH): C20 board
doors on strap hinges in chamfered openings in centre and right end. Ground
floor windows are inserted or restored of 2-lights. On first floor, windows are
of 2, 3 and 5 lights in chamfered, hollow-chamfered or ovolo-moulded surrounds,
one of C16 rendered moulded brick. Gable end: on moulded and chamfered plinth.
Ground floor window is of 3 lights in double hollow-chamfered opening: similar
restored window of 5 lights with return stopped hoodmould. Windows are diamond
or square lattice casements or divided vertically into 4 panes by iron glazing
bars. Unless indicated otherwise, windows are mullioned, those on first floor
transomed: attic windows are gabled or half-hipped dormers with 2-light
casements.
GALLERY RANGE: 2-storey 4-window
front, flanked by 2-window wings; south wing connected to Abbot's house by
linking porch and rebuilt staircase. Central semicircular passage arch flanked
by tapered pilasters beneath moulded cornice, with spandrels and pilasters
carved with strapwork: above is pedimented panel with round-arched head bearing
the crested arms of Thomas Wentworth, Earl of
Strafford. Windows on both floors are of 4 mullioned lights; similar
fenestration to north wing. Arcaded frieze beneath moulded cornice runs above
ground floor windows and returns on north wing. South wing has two double
chamfered semicircular arches blocked by multi-light windows on ground floor: on
first floor two 4-light windows. Windows have ovolo mouldings; first floor
windows are transomed. Porch bay approached by external staircase with squat
balusters and flat coping on square piers with ball finials. On first floor,
round-arched doorway is flanked by tapered pilasters carved with strapwork
supporting entablature and pedimented achievement of Stuart arms in round-headed
panel. Wrought-iron weathervane with KM pennant on gable end.
SECOND COURTYARD: rear of gallery
range: 2-storey 5-window front, gabled at north end. South range of 2 storeys of
varying heights, 5 bays, terminating in C16 gatehouse with attic. West range of
2 storeys on high basement, 14 bays, with 2-storey cross-gabled return at north
end. Courtyard completed by 2-storey 5-bay school extension to north end of
gallery range, with gabled centre bay and pent-roofed bay at end. Gabled return
and school extension linked by 1-storey 7-bay covered way forming northern
boundary of courtyard. Rear of gallery range has doorway with moulded 4-centred
head in square-headed surround and, further north, blocked doorway with
keyblock. Windows are of 2, 3 and 4 lights, ovolo-moulded. South range has
blocked doorway adjacent to gallery range: windows generally are of 2 lights on
ground floor, of 3 or 4 lights with transoms on first floor, those in centre
block gabled half dormers. Gatehouse has 4-centred arch with 3-light window
above and half-hipped attic dormer with similar window: traces of C17 windows
remain on outer side. In west range, C17 basement retains ovolo-moulded windows
and moulded string stepped up over C20 door. Two external flights of concrete
stairs lead to glazed doors on first floor: C20 aluminium windows are slide
horizontally. C19 bay at north end has C20 door on ground floor, 3-light
mullioned and transomed window on first floor. School extension has inserted C20
door; 1- and 2-light windows are ovolo-moulded, some with transoms, with
square-lattice glazing, in surrounds of contrasting stone. Covered way has
chamfered ogee-arched doorway at each end: between are 5 arcades of
segment-headed lights separated by short gabled pilaster buttresses. Wall capped
with moulded coping.
CHAMBERS BLOCK AND EXTENSION: 2
storeys and attics; 5-bay front, two bays gabled. Central doorway is quoined and
chamfered with sunk-panelled door. To left, two 3-light square lattice casement
windows with ovolo mullions in hollow chamfered surrounds: to right, three
18-pane sashes. First floor windows are five 18-pane sashes, mostly original.
Gables have 2-light attic windows, one in double chamfered surround, one ovolo
moulded. Rear: 2-storey parallel extension with gabled attics; 4-window
front on moulded plinth. Windows on ground
floor are 3-light, on first floor 3- or 4-light, to attic 2-light: surrounds and
mullions are ovolo moulded. Right side: paired gable ends of chambers block and
extension, of 2 storeys with attics. Original block has 2-storey polygonal bay
window on chamfered plinth. Window side lights are blocked on both floors:
ground floor windows are 18-pane sashes, first floor cross-windows with diamond
lattice casements. On both floors, windows have coved cornices, with plain
parapet over first floor. Extension range has former door altered to 2-light
window on ground floor; 3-light window on first floor. In both ranges, attic
windows are of 2 diamond latticed lights in ovolo moulded surrounds.