Description

YORK

SE6052SW DUNCOMBE PLACE
1112-1/27/307 (North West side)
14/06/54 The Red House and railings attached
at front

GV II*

Town house, now offices; railings attached to front. c1714
with later C18 extension; C19 and C20 alterations. For Sir
William Robinson MP.
MATERIALS: front of red painted brick in Flemish bond, with
painted stone doorcase, quoins and dressings, on painted stone
basement; ashlar basement and ground floor to both returns,
upper storeys of orange-brown brick, English garden-wall bond
to left, random bond to right; timber modillion eaves cornice,
returned at each end; brick stacks to slate hipped roof.
Extension of red-brown brick in English garden-wall bond. Rear
wing and extension have slate roofs with tumbled brick gable
ends. Cast-iron railings on low stone plinth and stone steps.
PLAN: central entrance hall plan with rear right wing and rear
left extension.
EXTERIOR: 2 storeys, basement and attic; 5-bay front, each bay
breaking forward slightly. Basement openings blocked. Steps
lead up to 6-panel front door and overlight recessed in
moulded architrave with palmette bootscrapers on either side.
Overdoor cartouche with segmental pediment has City arms set
on panel between garlanded volutes. To right of door, conical
torch extinguisher with moulded stone panel. Ground floor
windows are 12-pane sashes over full-width sill band; first
floor windows are tall 18-pane sashes with sills extended the
width of each bay. Dormers have squat 6-pane windows and
segmental pediments.
Left return: 2-storey return with Dutch gable, to right of
lower 2-storey 3-bay extension. In centre of gable end, two
full-height chimney flues conjoin in keyed semicircular arch
over first floor window. Windows are 12-pane sashes, those on
first floor with segmental brick arches over blind tympana. In
extension, ground floor has two 12-pane sashes, one C20 9-pane
light; first floor, 12-pane sash, 2x6-pane Yorkshire sash and
16-pane sash.
Right return: 2-storey gable end to left of long 2-storey
wing. Steps lead up to 4-panel door recessed beneath timber
lintel in gable end. Second door of 6 sunk panels with divided
overlight beneath stone arch to wing. Between doors is tall
sash window to staircase, with radial-glazed secondary
staircase window further right. Other windows include two
unequal 15-pane sashes, one with original glazing, and one
tripartite sash window with elliptical brick arch.
INTERIOR: cellars in front range separated by stud partition
wall: two chamfered mullioned windows survive, both blocked.
Kitchen in rear wing has segment-arched blocked fireplace of

painted brick. Ground floor: left front room retains heavy
moulded ceiling beams. Opening in fluted surround leads to
rear left room which has moulded dado rail and plain fireplace
with round-headed grate: two semi-domed niches in rear wall,
one converted to doorway to extension. Round arch leads to
stairhall. Main staircase to second floor has open string,
slender turned balusters and shaped treadends, moulded
ramped-up handrail, wreathed at foot around turned newel on
shaped curtail step: stairwell retains parallel moulded dado
rail. Secondary staircase rises from ground floor to attic and
has moulded close string, turned balusters with square newels,
and splat balusters to top flight. Rear room in wing has
fireplace with timber lintel and doors of 3 raised and fielded
panels. Rear room in extension has plain fireplace with
duck-nest grate.
First floor: front left room lined in full height bolection
moulded panelling: enriched overmantel panels to blocked
fireplace: moulded cornice. Rear left room, entered through
bolection-moulded doorcase, has heavy moulded cornice and
fireplace with round-headed grate in egg-and-dart surround.
Front right room retains moulded cornice and has altered
fireplace with moulded jambs, angle roundels and square-headed
moulded grate. Passage to rear wing lined with square
wainscotting and bolection moulded panelling. First room in
wing: plain fireplace has central frieze panel with vestigial
composition mouldings, dentilled cornice shelf and hob grate:
flanking cupboards have 2-panel doors: fluted skirting and
door and window architraves. Second room in wing: partly
fitted with square panelling above moulded dado rail:
bolection moulded fireplace with plain shelf: moulded cornice:
two doors are 2-panelled. Rooms in extension have plain
fireplaces with basket grates, one flanked by cupboards with
panelled and plank doors.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: early C19 cast-iron railings.
Between 1740-71, The Red House was the residence of Dr John
Burton, model for Dr Slop in Lawrence Sterne's Tristram
Shandy.
(City of York: RCHME: The Central Area: HMSO: 1981-: 130-1).

Listing NGR: SE6012552107

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• The Red House at Wikipedia
• Wikidata IDs Q108336798 Q17549938

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 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Farrow & Ball How to Decorate: Transform your home with paint & paper
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)