Fairfax House
Fairfax House, recognised as one of the finest Georgian town houses in England, is situated at 27 Castlegate, which is near to Clifford's Tower and York Castle Museum. The building dates to the early 1740s. Charles Gregory Fairfax, Viscount Fairfax of Emley purchased it as a winter home in 1759 and employed the Yorkshire architect John Carr to remodel the interior.
The work was completed in 1765, encapsulating the elegant Georgian era with its decorative embellishments, stucco reliefs and ceilings, elaborate wrought ironwork and wood carvings, the magnificent Great Staircase and Venetian Window.Viscount Fairfax died in 1772 and his title became extinct. Subsequent occupants included Sir Walter Vavasour, 6th Baronet of Haslewood (1780), William Danby (1787) and Peregrine Wentworth (1792).
Fairfax House, renamed St. George's Hall, became neglected and fell into disrepair. However, between 1982 and 1984, the York Civic Trust painstakingly renovated the building and it is now a museum open to the public.
The house boasts some of Yorkshire's finest mid eighteenth century plasterwork by James Henderson and Giuseppe Cortese and fine carved woodwork. The wrought iron balustrades on the staircases are by Maurice Tobin. The house also contains a superb collection of eighteenth century furniture and clocks donated by Noel Terry (of the Terry's chocolate factory in York), as well as paintings and decorative arts.
Historic Buildings in York
Historic buildings in Yorkshire