York Historic Environment Record

Askham Grange was built in 1886 for Sir Andrew Fairbairn by Chorley and Connan Architects from Leeds. A large extension was added to the house in 1912 by Fairbairn Wales. The main body of the house contained the whole range of high quality rooms on its ground floor and most of the high status rooms retain their fireplaces and much of their plasterwork. These are arranged around a grand entrance hall with a stair opening from the rear of it. The stair hall was lit by a glazed dome and the stair is lit by a large window in the rear wall of the house. The 1912 extension contained a swimming pool on the ground floor which has now been filled to allow a gymnasium to be created. On the first floor is a ballroom with stage. The house was taken over by the Prison Commission in 1946, although the purchase was not completed until 1953. The ground floor rooms are used as offices and meeting rooms while inmates are accommodated in the former bedrooms on the first floor and in the smaller attic rooms. A mother and baby unit was completed in July 1975 and a large education, visits and dining block designed by John Beetles was also erected in the mid 1970s. The former officer's quarters now provide for a creche and a lifer's unit. A large, modern one storey pre-release hostel containing a series of single rooms, a kitchen, laundry and lounge has been built at the rear of the house.