Fairfax House

With RoadTour you can hear about Fairfax House and over 1500 other UK Heritage sites via your SatNav or Mobile as you drive! Pub & Restaurant guides also available. Buy RoadTour now online for your vacation to the UK...

View images: 1 2

View full size Google map

“Fairfax House is regarded as the finest Georgian townhouse in England. It was created in 1762 as a dowry for Anne Fairfax, the only surviving child of Viscount Fairfax – it was to John Carr, York’s most distinguished architect, to whom the family turned for the design of its interior. Owned by York Civic Trust, it is now home to one of the best collections of Georgian furniture in England including the famous Noel Terry Collection of English Furniture and Clocks. There is a fully restored 18th century kitchen, which can be seen complete with utensils. Although every room has been painstaking restored in Georgian style, perhaps the most elegant aspect is The Great Staircase is with its exquisite Venetian Window, elaborate wrought iron, and decorative stucco ceiling. The Fairfax’s were a devout Catholic family and the stucco reliefs and designs are full of religious meaning such as the dragon which is meant to be the devil, seen here beside a Union Jack representing the protestant state. Lord Fairfax spent large sums on silver, porcelain, and napery for the dining room table, and he with his daughter, Anne, entertained lavishly. Later on, in the 19th century, Fairfax Hall became a gentleman’s club and then a part of St George’s Hall, a large cinema and entertainment complex during the 1920s. In 1980, John Shannon, Chairman of the York Civic Trust wrote to the Council asking if the trust might restore Fairfax House – but perhaps we also owe Fairfax to Dr Evelyn, a conservationist at the start of the 20th century who wrote to the cinema company asking them ‘to please take care of the interiors’ – a polite request they seem to have heeded. ”

See more Historic Homes in North of England:

• Aydon Castle
• Beningbrough Hall & Gardens
• Brodsworth Hall & Gardens
• Burton Constable
• Cherryburn (Thomas Bewick’s Birthplace)
• Cragside
• Dalemain
• Dove Cottage & Wordsworth Museum
• Dunham Massey
• East Riddlesden
• Fairfax House
• Fountains Abbey & Studley Royal
• Gawthorpe Hall
• George Stephenson’s Birthplace
• Harewood House & Bird Garden
• Hill Top
• Holker Hall & Gardens
• Hutton in the Forest
• Leighton Hall
• Levens Hall
• Little Moreton Hall
• Lyme Park
• Merchant’s Adventurer’s Hall
• Newby Hall & Gardens
• Nunnington Hall
• Ormesby Hall
• Paxton House and Country Park
• Rufford Old Hall
• Rydal Mount & Gardens
• Speke Hall
• Tatton Park
• Townend
• Wallington
• Washington Old Hall
• Wordsworth House