Description

SE5951NE
1112-1/15/1129

YORK,
TOFT GREEN (North West side),
Former North Eastern Railway Company Offices and area railings attached

(Formerly listed as North Eastern Railway Company Offices and area railings attached.

(Previously Listed as:
TOFT GREEN
North Eastern Railway Headquarters)

24/06/83

GV II*

Offices and area railings attached. 1900-06. H Field and W
Bell for the North Eastern Railway Company.
MATERIALS: orange-red brick in English bond on Portland stone
basement; doorcase, pilasters, quoins, dressings, frieze and
moulded and enriched modillion cornice of ashlar; Westmorland
slate roof with stone coped gables, ashlar pediments and
volute kneelers; brick stacks on stone plinths, with stone
bands and moulded cornices. Railings of wrought-iron on
moulded stone plinth.
STYLE: Baroque Revival.
EXTERIOR: entrance front: basement and 3 storeys: 3-bay
frontispiece breaks forward between 7-bay flanking ranges
terminating in 3-bay gabled crosswings; frontispiece and
crosswings have 2-storey attics. Staircase tower of basement
and 5 storeys set back at right end. Frontispiece is
articulated by paired giant pilasters with consoles at the
head supporting moulded cornice: semicircular gable between
volutes with urn finials rises above cornice. Concave
rusticated round-arched doorcase rises through 2 storeys of
central bay: panelled sliding doors and overlight in bolection
moulded architrave between fluted columns carrying deep frieze
and cornice on foliate consoles; lunette fanlight in arch
tympanum above. Frieze carved with cartouche bearing the words
'North Eastern Railways Head Offices'. Second floor window is
12-pane sash in Gibbs surround with moulded cornice, opening
on to balcony with balustrade incorporating the letters NER
embedded in foliate tendrils. In attic is Venetian window in
Gibbs surround, beneath garlanded laurel wreath carved in high
relief. In flanking ranges and crosswings ashlar basement
plinth is stepped up beneath ground floor windows. Windows are
15-pane sashes on ground floor, 18-pane on first floor, in
architraves with moulded sills, and moulded cornice hoods on
first floor. Similar 12-pane sashes on second floor of
flanking ranges, without hoods: in crosswings, second floor
sashes are squat, in lugged architraves over aprons carved
with festoons in high relief. Attic windows in crosswings are
12-pane sashes in eared and keyed segment-headed architraves
with moulded sills. Gable end window is 18-pane sash with
moulded sill on blocks and sill band, beneath triple-keyed
hoodmould on consoles. Beneath window is a circular panel in
keyed raised surround half enclosed in acanthus fronds.

Segmental pediment to gable apex, over panel carved in relief
with festoons, between volutes. Attics to flanking ranges have
12-pane sashes to lowest tier of dormers, beneath alternately
triangular and segmental pediments: second and third tiers are
flat with small-pane casement windows. There are four sets of
square section rainwater goods with rectangular hoppers.
Staircase tower has fielded panelled door, approached by
steps, in architrave with stepped keyed lintel. Windows are
square lattice casements in architraves with moulded sills,
one segment-headed with triple keyblock, one eared on fourth
floor, those on fifth floor in relief carved surrounds of
fruit and foliage. Console cornice beneath concave sided
pyramidal roof, truncated and surmounted by pedimented cupola
with steam engine weathervane.
Left return: basement, 3 storeys and attics; 8 bays, outer
bays bowed from basement to first floor, centre bays gabled,
with 3-light bow window on first floor. Windows and detailing
generally follow those of main front, except that windows
flanking first floor central bow are elongated 24-pane sashes
opening on to balconies with balustrades similar to those on
main front. Beneath first floor central bow is corbelled out
cartouche carved with the constituent badges of the North
Eastern Railway Company. Three out of four sets of lead
rainwater goods survive, dated 1904, embossed 'NER'.
Right return: 3 storeys and attics, gabled in centre; 6 first
floor windows; tower of 3 storeys and attic set back at right
end. Detailing repeats that of main front. Tower has a sash
window in architrave on each floor and moulded cornice beneath
parapet.
INTERIOR: not inspected.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: area railings attached to front and left
return: on low plinth. Square section railings incorporate
openwork panels of scrolled lyre motifs and arabesques; square
section standards have orb finials.
(Bartholomew City Guides: Hutchinson J and Palliser DM: York:
Edinburgh: 1980-: 244-45).

Listing NGR: SE5988451763

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Former North Eastern Railway Company Offices And Area Railings Attached at Wikipedia
• Former North Eastern Railway Company Offices And Area Railings Attached official website
• Wikidata Q17549256

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

• 
  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)