Nearest Online Tour Guide page: St Helen’s Square

The Mansion House is York’s premier civic building, having been home to the Lord Mayor of York since its completion in 1732.

York's Mansion House in St Helen's Square

Work began on the house in 1725, making it one of Britain’s earliest Georgian buildings. Its exact architect is unknown, although it only slightly predates Lord Burlington’s Assembly Rooms, round the corner on Blake Street, and is in the Palladian style of which Burlington was so fond.

John Stainforth, a vintner, was the first Lord Mayor to take up residency in the Mansion House, although Samuel Clarke’s Lady Mayoress held the first public function in the house in 1726 and the magnificent State Room’s decorations weren’t complete until 1733.

The house was built for social purposes rather than those of government, and is more a grand Palladian statement than a set of council offices. The interior is formal, splendid and set out according to the classical orders as per Palladio’s diktats.

It was originally built as, in the early eighteenth century, the Lord Mayor’s duties included hosting public dining occasions. As York’s status rose in the social world, so did the need for a formal venue for the Mayor’s public dinners.

The Corporation of York – the council of the time – tried to buy the Red House but failed. Instead, they built the Mansion House on the site of the medieval Guildhall’s gatehouse (thus sandwiching the Guildhall between the Mansion House and the River Ouse).

York City Council boasts that the modern house contains an “impressive collection of silver, paintings and furniture … unequalled by any provincial city”.

You can judge for yourself: the house is open to the public for guided tours at 11am and 2pm every Friday and Saturday (excepting Christmas, one presumes).

The Mansion House is fully wheelchair accessible.