Rococo ceilings
The plasterwork over the saloon and main staircase is the house's masterpiece and the reason for its reputation.
Malcolmxl5 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Tilman2007 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Tilman2007 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Tilman2007 — CC BY-SA 4.0
Before anyone was calling this «the finest Georgian townhouse in England», as the house now bills itself, it spent decades as a cinema and then a dance hall, its extravagant plaster ceilings buried under paint and neglect. What stands on Castlegate today, a couple of minutes from Clifford's Tower, is the result of a York Civic Trust restoration that opened in 1984, returning the house John Carr remodelled between 1759 and 1762 for Viscount Fairfax and his daughter Anne to something like its first glory. The ceilings are the real reason to come. The rococo plasterwork in the saloon and over the main staircase is among the best of its kind anywhere in eighteenth-century Britain, a tangle of foliage, musical instruments and allegorical figures so detailed that you spend more time looking up than ahead. The furniture, clocks and porcelain filling the rooms are the Noel Terry collection, assembled by a member of York's famous chocolate-making family and regarded as a benchmark for English furniture of the period. Interpretation panels are sparse, and the house is better enjoyed by looking than by reading. Be honest with yourself about who this is for. It rewards people who love interiors and antiques, and one hour is genuinely enough. Children of 16 and under go free with a paying adult but rarely find much to hold them, and the original staircase means no wheelchair access; pushchairs are left at reception. On the other hand it is a perfect wet-weather refuge, the £8.50 adult ticket covers unlimited visits for a year, and it is included in the York Pass. Fridays open with an 11:00 guided tour (£9.50) that is worth booking ahead, with free-flow entry from noon; every other day you simply walk in, and pre-booking is optional. The main season runs from mid-January to mid-October, after which the house closes for a few weeks and re-emerges from mid-November to early January dressed for an eighteenth-century Christmas, which many regard as the best time to see it. It is about a fifteen-minute walk from York station, and the Jorvik Viking Centre is directly around the corner.
The plasterwork over the saloon and main staircase is the house's masterpiece and the reason for its reputation.
Eighteenth-century furniture, clocks and porcelain assembled by a member of York's chocolate dynasty.
From mid-November to early January the house is dressed as it would have been in the 1700s, its most atmospheric season.
Castlegate, York YO1 9RN
Clifford's TowerFor more than three centuries this tower had no roof. A fire in 1684, set off by1 minute walk4.4
JORVIK Viking CentreBeneath the floor of an ordinary shopping centre in the middle of York lies the 1 minute walk4.7
The York DungeonNothing in the York Dungeon is genuine, and yet you walk out knowing more of Yor2 minutes walk4.5
Merchant Adventurers' HallBetween 1357 and 1361 the merchants of York raised this hall out of oak trunks s2 minutes walk4.5
York Castle MuseumInside the prison where England's most notorious highwayman spent his last night2 minutes walk4.5With a single day, the Minster, the Shambles and the city walls come first and Fairfax House after them. If you love interiors and antique furniture, or it is raining, an hour here is well spent, especially as it sits steps from Clifford's Tower and Jorvik.
Children of 16 and under enter free with a paying adult, but the rooms are quiet, full of untouchable antiques and without interactive displays, so younger children tire of it quickly. The neighbouring Jorvik Viking Centre is a far better bet for them.