WELSH SLATE TOPS THE FOREFRONT OF A BUILDING REVOLUTION
5 November 2024
A blueprint building in York has a new Welsh Slate roof
A property which started a major building revolution in one of England’s most historic cities is enjoying a new lease of life, with a new Welsh Slate hat.
Some 75m2 of Welsh Slate’s new County-grade Penrhyn Heather Blue 500mm x 300mm slates now adorn two road frontage pitches of The Red House, also known as The City House, on Duncombe Place, a prominent corner in central York, which was acquired from the city council by York Conservation Trust in 1999.
They were specified on a like-for-like basis by the trust’s CEO and conservation architect Guy Bowyer. The previous slates are thought to have been on the roof since the Grade II* listed building had a major overhaul for the Festival of Britain celebrations.
They were replaced over 20 weeks on pitches of 25° with a minimum headlap of 95mm using double copper nails by specialist heritage contractors Pinnacle Conservation who reinstated the ridge tiles with a more traditional rolled lead detail that was also applied to the mitred hips and valleys.
Pinnacle’s operations manager Jordan Ramnauth said: “It was a challenging project due to tight site restrictions and poor weather, but the Welsh Slate performed very well.”
Originally built in c1714 as a residence for Sir William Robinson, MP for York from 1698 to 1722, The Red House now mostly houses the Red House Antique Centre on the ground floor, a café on the first floor, and offices/storage for the York BID Company in the attics. The site lies within York Central Historic Core Conservation Area and an Area of Archaeological Importance.
The Red House was a blueprint for York’s building revolution as following the Great Fire of London, the Government of the day issued new building regulations, including a requirement that any new houses fronted onto a pavement must be built of brick and/or stone. York had already some buildings constructed in this way, but nothing the size of The Red House, with its basement and three storeys.
York architect John Etty was selected to design and build what was often referred to in the council meeting minutes as the ‘City House’, perhaps in anticipation that one day it would hold the City Records and be home to the Lord Mayor during his year of office. The City of York coat of arms above the main entrance would certainly suggest an illustrious future was envisaged for the building.
In the end, the ‘City House’ never appeared to achieve its intended use and it remains unknown why the building was eventually called The Red House. It may be linked with the Red Tower on York’s walls, reflecting the use of brick, rather than stone, for an important city building, and not from the fact that today the brickwork has been painted dark red.
