Historic Griffins Among Major Restorations At Former York Guildhall

Historic Griffins Among Major Restorations At Former York Guildhall

The former seat of local government in Medieval York has seen its heraldic griffins expertly restored as part of a raft of repairs to the ancient stonework and windows to one of York’s most historic buildings.

Scaffolders in York worked with dedicated craftsmen to remove the upper part of the statues on the historic building, carefully lowering them onto a barge so they could be restored at a craft workshop in York before being reinstated.

For other repairs on the side facing the River Ouse, where scaffolding could not be easily placed, craftsmen used ropes to reach and carry out carefully planned restoration work on the windows and walls.

In other restoration work on the inside of the building, the conservation repair team also restored significant parts of the mosaic flooring.

These were some of the final steps of a £21.7m project to redevelop the Guildhall, initially launched in September 2019 and delayed for a year due to restrictions on construction that began in March 2020.

As well as this, due to the work taking place directly on the River Ouse itself, high levels of water caused some significant delays to the project.

Furthermore, human remains dating back to the 15th century were found on the site in June 2020, leading to delays as archaeological experts surveyed the site and found other remnants of a friary that was formerly on the site.

However, with the work continuing at pace, the University of York’s major plans for the building come closer to fruition.

Having signed a 15-year lease on the building, the University plans to turn it into an enterprise hub, providing office space for start-up businesses and space for events to be run by York Science Park.

Beyond the enterprise amenities, the Guildhall is set to also contain a cafe, meeting rooms, additional offices and space for conferences, as well as a nearby restaurant on the riverside.

The project may be nearing the end, as heavy construction work concluded in August and the tower crane used as part of the construction has since been demolished by a 100-tonne barge crane.

The building itself was formerly the home of the City of York Council before they moved to West Offices in 2013 and a review of the historic building, containing Grade I, Grade II and Grade II* elements, was conducted.

They found major structural issues that needed repairs, so meetings that were set to take place in the hall were relocated.

The last time significant repairs took place was nearly 80 years ago; during the Baedeker Blitz a bombing raid by the Luftwaffe on York destroyed the original building and its original stained glass window, and it would not be until 1960 until this was fully repaired.

The building was constructed around 1449 as a meeting place for York’s powerful guilds and has been a centre of several major historical events during its history.

King Richard III was entertained in the Guildhall just two years before being killed and the throne taken by Henry Tudor. It also hosted the trial of St Margaret Clitherow for harbouring Catholic priests, and where the £200,000 ransom for Charles I was counted during the English Civil War.

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