York Historic Environment Record

House, now school. c1850 with later C19 and C20 alterations. By JB and W Atkinson for CH Elsey.
MATERIALS: beige brick in Flemish bond, with painted moulded stone plinth band and painted stone dressings; ground floor of centre block and porch are of painted rusticated stone. Shallow pitched hipped slate roof with wide eaves on shaped brackets. Screen walls at front of red brick in random bond on moulded brick plinth with moulded stone plinth band and coping.

EXTERIOR: 2 storeys on high basement plinth, part with attic; 3-window centre block has projecting 2-storey 1-bay closed porch and is flanked by angled 2-bay wings articulated by pilaster strips and clasping pilasters: basement hidden by curving screen walls attached to porch. Porch has rusticated pilaster piers at the corners supporting incised panel frieze and low parapet on moulded cornice, dentilled and breaking forward over piers: 3-leaf door is panelled and has tall 2-light round-arched overlight. Porch is flanked on ground floor by narrow 12-pane sash windows: above, first floor windows are standard 12-pane sashes; to attic, squat 6-pane sashes with painted stone lintels and sill band.

Flanking wings have round-arched sash windows, with blind or radial glazed heads, on both floors of inner bays: outer bays have paired 12-pane sashes. Rear of left wing: 2-storey 5-bay front opening on to terrace over basement. Ground floor has large-pane French doors or 2-light casement windows with plain semicircular overlights, in enlarged round-arched openings which break into moulded plinth band. First floor windows are 12-pane sashes over moulded sill band. Rear of right wing: 2 storeys with basement and attics: 1:3:1 bays articulated with pilaster strips. Basement windows are unequal hung sashes. On ground floor, outer bays each have a sash window, 16-pane to left, 4-pane to right, framed in sunk panelled pilaster surrounds with entablatures and shallow pediments. First floor windows are single 16-pane sashes, attic windows squat 6-pane sashes, one to left, two to right. On ground floor in centre is a blind round-arched recess between 12-pane sash windows; on first floor three 12-pane sashes, attic squat 6-pane sash windows with shaped lintels on each side of blind recess. First floor and attic windows have sill bands.

Centre rear: 2 storeys, 2 bays. To left, three tall segment-arched openings, the centre one with glazed and panelled door, outer ones with sash windows: above are three tall round headed sash windows with painted stone sill band. On ground floor to right, canted bay window with sash windows and overhanging bracketed eaves: on first floor, one 12-pane sash. Unless indicated otherwise all windows have flat arches of brick and painted stone sills.

INTERIOR: vestibule: inner front doorcase of sunk panel piers with domed caps. Walls are panelled and incorporate doorcases with sunk panel doors and overdoors of 8-point stars in moulded circular surrounds beneath segmental pediments. Pilasters with paired brackets at the head support moulded cornice and beams to coffered ceiling. At foot of stairs, pilasters with moulded capitals support single quadripartite vault. Over staircase are 3 bays of tunnel vaulting. Back staircase rises to attic around top lit open well and has open string, square bobbin balusters and serpentine ramped-up handrail. Lower ground floor. Lobby: panelled pilasters with moulded imposts and single column pier with paterae necking support coffered ceiling formed by moulded beams carried on segmental arches. At head of stairs is semicircular domed niche with paterae in the spandrels and enclosed 8-point star in the tympanum.

Rooms in right wing have moulded ceiling cornices and panelled window shutters: one has plain marble fireplace with ornate cast-iron grate. Ground floor. Landing: twin round arches on panelled pilasters with moulded imposts give access to upper and lower floors: enclosed straight staircase with blind balustrades and attached square newels approached through one. Moulded impost band provides cornice to doorcases with panelled friezes and doors of 6 moulded panels recessed in similarly panelled reveals. Moulded cornice to plaster moulded ceiling with central rose. Partitioned area has panelled window shutters and plaster ceiling. Front room in left wing has segment-arched recess with moulded soffit; some panelled shutters; coved moulded ceiling.

Rear rooms in left wing both have panelled shutters; small room has plain plaster ceiling. Large room has three richly carved doorcases with cornices on console brackets and moulded segmental pediments: doors are of 6 moulded panels. White marble fireplace has pilaster jambs and frieze with yellow and grey marble inlay and carved floral motifs. On each side are tall round headed cupboards with panelled lower doors and small-pane radial glazed upper doors. Richly moulded plaster frieze and panelled ceiling. First floor. Landing: panelled doors in architraves with semicircular moulded overdoors enclosing roundels: impost band. Top lit from small radial glazed domed lantern with floret in centre. Room in right wing has plain fireplace and
meagre moulded cornice. Other rooms were not available. Attic in right wing has roof carried on king post trusses.

HISTORICAL NOTE: this house is an important work, spatially adventurous, by two highly regarded local architects who were the grandsons of John Carr's first assistant, Peter Atkinson. They carried on his practice, founded in the mid C18, which continues to survive today. The fine interior of the house remains substantially intact.

(An Inventory of the Historical Monuments of the City of York: RCHME: South-west of the Ouse: HMSO: 1972-: 127).
Listing NGR: SE5951150967

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

613515 Architectural Survey Investigation by RCHME/EH Architectural Survey

BF060917 MILL MOUNT SCHOOL, YORK File of material relating to a site or building. This material has not yet been fully catalogued

NMR, NMR data (Unassigned). SYO2214.

RCHME, 1972, RCHME City of York Volume III South-west of the Ouse, p.127 (Monograph). SYO64.