Fairfax House Museum, York

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What is recorded here

Fairfax House was made between 1759 and 1763 as the York town house of Viscount Fairfax and his daughter Ann. It later became a club, cinema, ballroom and dance school; York Civic Trust rescued it in 1980 and reopened the carefully restored Georgian rooms as a museum in 1984.

Why it was built

Viscount Charles Gregory Fairfax created the richly finished town house for himself and his daughter Ann, giving them a fashionable city home close to York Castle.

People and work

Architect John Carr is associated with the design, while Francis Johnson led the later restoration and craftspeople spent thousands of hours cleaning its plasterwork.

How it changed

After private residential use it became a gentlemen's club and Friendly Society, then St George's cinema and dance hall in 1920 before museum restoration from 1980.

What survives

The brick front, grand stair, stucco ceilings, marble fireplaces and much boxed-in original woodwork survive, now furnished to explain Georgian domestic life.

Why it mattered

Its recovery from drastic entertainment use shows how hidden original work can survive adaptation, and restored one of York's finest eighteenth-century interiors.