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'York House' in the Strand in London was one of a string of mansions which once stood along the route from the City of London to the royal court at Westminster. It was built as the London home of the Bishops of Norwich not later than 1237, and around 300 years later it was acquired by King Henry VIII. It came to be known as York House when it was granted to the Archbishop of York in 1556 and retained that name for the rest of its existence. For about seventy years from 1558 it was leased to various Lord Keepers of the Great Seal of England. In the 1620s it was acquired by the royal favourite George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, and apart from an interlude during the English Civil War it remained in the family until George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham sold it to developers for £30,000 in 1672. He made it a condition of the sale that his name and title should be commemorated by George Street, Villiers Street, Duke Street, Of Alley, and Buckingham Street, some of which have survived into the twenty-first century. (Villiers Street runs along the eastern side of Charing Cross railway station).

The mansions facing in the Strand were built where they were partly because they had direct access from their garden fronts to the Thames, which was then a preferred transport artery. The 'York Watergate', built ca. 1626, survives, now marooned 150 yards from the river, within the Embankment Gardens, due to the construction of the Thames Embankment. With the Banqueting House it is one of the few surviving reminders in London of the Italianate court style of Charles I. Its boldly rusticated design in a confident Serlian manner has been attributed to Sir Balthazar Gerbier^[1], to Inigo Jones himself^[2] and to the sculptor and master-mason Nicholas Stone.^[3] It was restored in the 1950s.

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Notes

1. by Sir John Summerson, in ''Architecture in Britain, 1530-1830'' (1963); Sir John withdrew the attribution in the 1991 edition.
2. by John Harris in ''Country Life'' 2 November 1989.
3. in a list drawn up by his relative, Charles Stoakes (Colvin, "Gerbier").

References

★ ''London's Mansions'' by David Pearce, (1986) ISBN 0-7134-8702-X

★ ''Survey of London'', xviii, plates 31-33.

★ Howard Colvin, ''A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600-1840'' 3rd ed. 1995 sv "Sir Balthazar Gerbier", "Inigo Jones" "Nicholas Stone"

See also

★ York House, for a list of other mansions in London which have been known as York House.