I have fond memories of the De Grey rooms. The annual student Ball, “Archers Night”, was held there when I was at St. Johns College in the 1970’s. The main ball room was also the venue for blood donating sessions at this time.
The De Grey Rooms were built in 1841 and paid for by public subscriptions of £5,000 in shares of £25 each, forty of which were subscribed by the Yorkshire Hussars.
The rooms were designed by George Townsend Andrews who was born in Exeter in 1804 and came to York after winning a competition to design an extension to York Castle (prison) in 1831-2. He continued to work in York on the development of St Leonard’s Place and eventually became the Sheriff from 1846-7.
Formed in 1793, The Yorkshire Hussars, made use of the De Grey Rooms as their Officers' mess. The Colonel of the regiment was Thomas Philip 2nd Earl De Grey, a prominent member of the local aristocracy, for whom the De Grey Rooms were named.
@vignouse Thank you for your lovely comment Richard. It is nice to see this building without cars and buses lined up in front of it. This is due to the rather controversial closing of Lendle Bridge at certain times of the day. Katharine
Great pov. and capture