York Guildhall

York Guildhall
York Guildhall
	The Guildhall facing the River Ouse
Location	York, North Yorkshire
Coordinates	53°57′35″N 1°05′08″W / 53.95963°N 1.08563°W
Built	1459
Listed Building – Grade I
Designated	14 June 1954
Reference no.	1257929
	Location of York Guildhall in North Yorkshire

The Guildhall York is a municipal building located in St Martins Courtyard, Coney Street, in York. Located behind the Mansion House, it is a Grade I listed building.^[1]

History

York Guildhall as seen from the rear of the Mansion House

The building was constructed as a meeting place for the City's guilds between 1449 and 1459.^[1]

King Richard III was entertained in the building in 1483,^[2] and the Guildhall was the venue for the trial of St Margaret Clitherow, a Catholic martyr, in 1586.^[3] It was also the place where a ransom of £200,000 was counted before being given to the Scots in payment for the release of Charles I in 1647 during the English Civil War,^[3] and where Prince Albert, the Prince Consort to Queen Victoria was a guest of honour at a royal banquet in the building in October 1850.^[4] At the north end of the Guildhall was a stained glass window painted by Henry Gyles in about 1682.^[5]

In 1811 a building, designed by Peter Atkinson the younger as a council chamber, was erected to the south of the original hall (this is now known as "the Atkinson Room").^[6] Then in 1891, another building, designed by Enoch Mawbey, the city surveyor, accommodating a larger council chamber, was built to the north of the original hall (this building is now known as "the Municipal Offices").^[6]^[7] The new council chamber was decorated by Kendal, Milne and Co in the 1890s.^[8]

The interior of the original building, including the stained glass window, was destroyed during a Baedeker raid in 1942.^[3] After the war the Guildhall was rebuilt and a new stained glass window, depicting five aspects of the city's history (architecture, war, civic affairs, commercial trade and religious education), was designed and installed by Harry Harvey of York.^[9] The complex was re-opened by Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother in 1960.^[10]

Throughout the 20th century meetings of the City of York Council were held in the Guildhall;^[11] however, in Autumn 2017, when a programme of restoration work began at the Guildhall, temporary arrangements were put in place for the council to meet in the former Salvation Army Citadel on Gillygate.^[12] The renovation, which cost £21 million and was carried out to remedy serious structural issues, was completed in 2022 and the building was subsequently leased to the University of York, as a centre for start up businesses.^[13]