York Historic Environment Record

House, now offices. Built shortly after 1723; altered 1827 and c1835. Alterations of 1827 for George Hudson. Brick in Flemish bond with painted stone and stucco dressings. Pantiled roof. EXTERIOR: 3 storeys plus attic. 4 bays. Facade has stone plinth, painted stone 1st floor sill band with a brick band below, and a timber cornice gutter. The windows are glazing bar sashes with rubbed brick flat arches. The attic dormer has a pitched roof and 6-pane sash. On the ground floor a doorway of early C19 date occupies the 2 right-hand bays. It has a painted stone or stucco surround with Tuscan pilasters and a cornice. The door has an architrave and flanking lights and has 6 panels and an overlight. Ridge chimney at left. INTERIOR: open well staircase with cast-iron balustrade of geometric panels and serpentine handrail. A plaque records that George Hudson MP 1800-1871 lived here. (An Inventory of the Historical Monuments of the City of York: RCHME: Outside the City Walls East of the Ouse: HMSO: 1975-: 90).
Listing NGR: SE6072152361

Derived from English Heritage LB download dated: 22/08/2005

No. 44, was built probably by Robert Edwards, yeoman, soon after he acquired the site in 1723 (Deeds). The deeds of the property show that there had been at least two earlier houses here, one probably destroyed in the siege of 1644. The house was leased between 1741 and 1747 to John Houghton, a gentleman of some standing, and later it became the property of Thomas Beckwith, painter and antiquary (1731–86). In 1827 it passed to George Hudson who drastically remodelled it; in 1828 he also acquired and rebuilt No. 42 adjoining. According to a conveyance of 1828 No. 42 was for the use of Richard Nicholson (YCA, E98, f. 61v, 62v), but the deeds of No. 44 speak of Hudson using the two properties as one mansion house. An advertisement for the sale of Hudson's house in YG 3/4/1847 describes it as containing the following rooms: on the ground floor, entrance hall, breakfast room, study, kitchen, and house-keeper's, butler's and servants' rooms; on the first floor, a suite of four drawing rooms, dining room with butler's room, two bedrooms and a dressing room; on the second floor, seven bedrooms, three dressing rooms and a bathroom with pipes for hot and cold water; accommodation for the servants was provided in the attics and over the servants' offices. The house was also provided with two water closets and, outside, three coach-houses with stabling for eight horses. George Hudson was described in a directory of 1830 as draper; he became well-known for his activities in local politics, serving as Lord Mayor three times, and in the promotion of railways. He became the first chairman of the York and North Midland Railway Company.

'Houses: Monkgate', in An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in City of York, Volume 4, Outside the City Walls East of the Ouse (London, 1975), pp. 87-91. Monument 282.

NMR Information

List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest. District of York, 14-MAR-1997

BF060877 44 MONKGATE, YORK File of material relating to a site or building. This material has not yet been fully catalogued.

NMR, NMR data (Unassigned). SYO2214.

RCHME, 1975, RCHME Volume 4, Outside the City Walls East of the Ouse (Monograph). SYO2424.