17-39 Blossom Street, York

This part of Blossom Street consists mostly of 19th century Georgian buildings which have weathered many a storm. Starting here with the grade 1 listed Bar Convent, now also a Living Heritage Centre, the earliest part of this building dates from 1765 although its roots go back further.

The Convent, formerly known as St Mary’s, was founded in 1686, at a time when Catholics were being persecuted by the state.  The community was run in secret in a house bought by its founder, Frances Bedingfield.

Quoting from the history  of york website: “in the 1760s, when the present elegant building was constructed, Catholic places of worship were illegal.  The nuns flouted the law and built a beautiful chapel, but one hidden from the outside.  In preparation for raids by magistrates the chapel was complete with eight exits and a priest hole, in which to hide”.

Although the dome of the chapel is completely hidden from view when on the street, this drawing is a flat elevation and I decided that I wanted to include it as a visible part of my 21st century drawing, thereby giving it a place on the street.

The community took its inspiration from the ideas of Mary Ward (1585-1645) who created the ‘Congregation of Jesus and the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary’.  Mary Ward was a pioneer of women’s education in a time of great persecution and the Convent ran a school for Catholic girls, known as the ‘Ladies at the Bar’.

St Bede’s Pastoral Centre is a ‘place which offers hospitality, welcome and peace to all those who come and also provides a place apart for those who want to explore and deepen their spirituality’.

From the British Listed Buildings Online website:

“Two houses, later chaplains’ residence; now part of convent and Pastoral Centre. No.19 rebuilt 1837 incorporating remains of mid and late C18 house; remodelled and combined with rebuilt No.21 in 1845-47; C20 alterations and extensions. Mid C19 remodelling by GT Andrews for the Bar Convent. Red brick in Flemish bond with some stone dressings. Slate roof.”

Mid 19th century, grade 2 listed.

This house dates to around 1840 – brick construction with painted stone dressings under a slate roof. I wasn’t concentrating here as you can see I had started on drawing windows into the blind recesses.

This is a surprise on this part of the street – a narrow one bay painted brick building, three storeys high, with a red tile roof hipped at the right. It was built as a house around 1820 and is now an office.

From British Listed Buildings online “EXTERIOR: 3 storeys and one bay. The windows are glazing bar sashes (renewed). The lower storeys have a 2-storey canted bay window with sashes to front and sides. The doorway, at the left, has a door case with engaged reeded columns with acanthus capitals and a reeded frieze. Above the door, which has 6 raised and fielded panels, there is a fanlight. The reveals have reeded borders to their panels. The gutter is carried on paired rectangular brackets. Chimney behind ridge towards right.”

Built originally as two shops and flats around 1850, this is listed grade 2, brick with slate roof.

Another grade 2 listed mid-19th century building, with painted brickwork.  Note the carriageway entrance to the right hand side.

This was once the “Lion and Lamb” pub, now in use as offices for Lawrence Hannah. Built in 1828, it is listed grade 2 and now painted brick with stone or stucco dressings under a hipped slate roof. This was also once home to DWA Architects, York.

This drawing is available to buy as a limited edition print (fifty prints only in this edition) from my Etsy shop here.

Thanks for reading and stay well.

Ronnie