Electric Cinema, York

The Electric Cinema was the first purpose-built cinema in the city of York, in England. It is a Grade II listed building. Early films were screened in various temporary locations in York, and in 1908, the New Street Wesleyan Chapel was converted into the Hippodrome Cinema. In 1911, National Electric Theatres constructed the Electric Cinema as the first purpose-built cinema in the city, lying on Fossgate, in the city centre. In 1951, the cinema was renamed the Scala, but it closed in 1957. The empty cinema was purchased by Macdonalds furniture shop, which already occupied the building next door. The shop closed in 2016, and the following year, it reopened as the Cosy Club restaurant and bar. The oldest part of the building is the boundary wall at the rear, the base of which is mediaeval, with later additions, and was originally part of the wall of the York Carmelite Friary. In front of it is a late-19th-century building, which has been fully incorporated into the main, front, part of the building, which dates from 1911. The front to Fossgate is covered in glazed tiles and faience, and takes the form of a large arch, supported on columns. Inside, various plaster mouldings from the cinema survive, as does the decorated panelled ceiling.

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Fossgate

Fossgate is a street in the city centre of York, in England.

Landmark Neighbourhood

15 and 16 Fossgate

15 and 16 Fossgate is a historic building in the city centre of York, in England. The building was constructed as a house, in about 1600. It is timber framed and both of the upper floors are jettied to the Fossgate front. It was originally just one room deep, with a staircase behind, but in the late 17th century, a brick wing was added at the rear. This has a times served as a separate tenement, known as "Morrell Yard". They are accessed through a passage on the left side of the ground floor, which has a door with a late-17th century hood. Inside the building, some timber framing is visible on the ground floor, and there is a rebuilt brick fireplace. The building was grade II listed in 1954. It currently houses a shop.

Historic Site Landmark

York Carmelite Friary

York Carmelite Friary was a friary in York, North Yorkshire, England, that was established in about 1250, moved to its permanent site in 1295 and was surrendered in 1538. The original site was on Bootham in York until 1295 when William de Vescy gave the Carmelite friars a tenement in Stonebow Lane which extended as far south as the River Foss and from east to west between the streets of Fossgate and 'Mersk'. Within five years the friary church was under construction followed by the consecration of a cemetery in 1304 and the church in 1328. A royal licence was granted in 1314 that allowed the friars to build a quay on the Fishpond of the Foss and keep a boat that enabled the transporting of building materials. This licence and the gift of additional lands was followed by a number of extensions that took place throughout the 14th century culminating in the rebuilding of the church in 1392 as the friary eventually extended as far east as Hungate. The location of friary land within the parishes of St Crux and St Saviour meant that from 1301 an annual payment to St Saviour's was established following complaints from St Mary's convent to whom the church was appropriated. In 1320 Archbishop Melton stated that annual compensation was to be paid to the rector of St Crux and in 1350 the friary was restricted in the use of its chapel. The chapel, which was located above the gatehouse at the northern end of the friary, contained a life-size statue of the Virgin Mary which attracted many pilgrims, but the friars were made to remove the statue. The last Prior of the Carmelite friary, Simon Clerkson, was a supporter of the Henrician regime and, after the dissolution, was granted the vicarage of Rotherham. The friary was surrendered to Sir George Lawson in 1538 after which the site was leased to a Ralph Beckwith in 1540 and his family held the land until 1614. A few monuments and architectural fragments from the friary are in the collection of the Yorkshire Museum in York. The location of the friary can be found on several historical maps up to 1852 including Speed's map of 1610 and Baines of 1822, however the modern street pattern has significantly changed. The friary has been completely built over, however it is thought that the limestone masonry incorporated into buildings on the site may have been from the walls of the friary. In the 1990s the public house (since renamed The Terrace) on the corner of Fossgate and Stonebow was called the Northern Wall in reference to its location on the site of the former friary. In 1995, the Carmelites returned to work in York when they were invited by the Diocese of Middlesbrough to be chaplains at More House to the University of York. In 2021 Oratorian of the Oratory Church of Saint Wilfrid assumed responsibility for the Catholic Chaplaincy.

Church Historic Site

8 Fossgate

8 Fossgate is a historic building in the city centre of York, in England. The oldest part of the building is the front block, facing onto Fossgate. The early 17th-century, three-story timber-framed building was just one room deep at its inception. It was expanded to the back in the late 17th century, and its previous rear wall was reconstructed in brick. In about 1700, a separate two-storey brick house was constructed at the rear of the site, incorporating what is believed to be part of the wall of the York Carmelite Friary at its base, where it faces onto Black Horse Passage. In the 19th century, a long, two-storey block was built to connect the two existing buildings. The building was Grade II listed in 1954. For more than 60 years until 2020, it was occupied by Connollys Homestyle. The front of the building is two bays wide, and its upper floors are jettied. The timber framing is visible, and is infilled with plaster. The ground floor has a late 19th century shopfront. Inside, one first floor room has late 17th century panelling and a blocked fireplace, and there is also a staircase of this date.

Historic Site Landmark