York 2015 remastered ~ The Treasurer’s House

Posted in Adventures, architecture, art, Fuji, fujiXT1, History, photography, stately homes & estatesTagged , , , , , , ,

The History Bit ( not too long but still worth a ☕️ & 🍪)

This time we’re all about Frank Green and The Treasurers House. York Minster, the whopping great Cathedral that I’ve yet to remaster the post on, first had a treasurer in 1091. Thats 932 yrs ago! Not surprisingly the original building is gone apart from an external wall from the 12th century. In 1547 The Reformation put paid (pun intended 🙂 ) to the job of treasurer and the house was given to The Archbishops of York. Thomas Young who was Archbishop between 1561 and 1568, and his descendants are responsible for the structure of Treasurer’s House as it is today. In the early 17th century the Young family added the symmetrical front and almost entirely rebuilt the house. The Treasurer’s House played host to royalty when Sir George Young entertained King James 1st in 1617. The house then passed through a number of private owners.

Frank Green was a wealthy collector, and owned Treasurer’s House between 1897 and 1930. He demolished the additions made to the building in the 19th century and restored the house to what he thought was its original shape. He turned Treasurer’s House into a stage for his collection, designing rooms of different periods to display his antique furniture. It was at this time that Treasurer’s House received a second royal visit, in June 1900. Edward VII and Queen Alexandra visited as Prince and Princess of Wales along with their daughter Victoria. It was in their honour that the King’s Room, Queen’s Room and Princess Victoria’s Room were so named.

Frank Green was a very precise man, in both his own appearance and the way he ran his home. He was a bit of a ‘dandy’, neatly dressed and often seen wearing a floppy silk bow tie. He had studs fixed to the floor in the rooms of Treasurer’s House so the house maids knew exactly where furniture should stand. Frank was also careful about the state of his house; signs can be seen at Treasurer’s House with careful instructions to the staff. He left curt little notices dotted about the house – notices which are still there to this day. “All workmen are requested to wear slippers when working in this House. By order Frank Green,” says one.A former kitchen maid told how Frank would inspect the kitchen, turning out any drawers he thought were untidy. Frank Green retired to Somerset in 1930 and gave Treasurer’s House to the National Trust, complete with his vast collection. It was the first historic house acquired by the Trust with its contents complete.

The Treasurer’s House
wisteria and naked bum statue.
artistic fireplace.

Frank decorated the rooms to match the collected artworks that he had obtained on his work travels, but this hall was done in faux medieval style.

the medieval hall
birdseye view

artwork in the hall,

copping a feel

This next room was all done out to match the painting of a lady in a blue dress. I think it was my favourite room, loved all the ornate furniture and oriental vases.

Lady in blue
french furniture
ornation!
looking in
looking back

This marble topped table had intricately carved wooden legs, but they looked like metal.

wooden leg

we went upstairs through another hallway

on the wing

more artwork on the way upstairs

Lady in white. And pink.

Frank decorated for the King’s visit, and this is the bed Edward VII slept in, hope they changed the sheets.

King SIze

Finally, this is something I read on wiki, made me smile 🙂

“In 1953 local 17-year-old apprentice plumber Harry Martindale, was repairing pipe work in the cellar, the National Trust having decided to remove the coal-fired central heating installed by Green. After about four hours of work at the top of his ladder Martindale became aware of a musical sound, resembling a series of repeated single trumpet-like notes. The sound grew in intensity until, just below his ladder, Martindale reported that said he saw a soldier wearing a plumed helmet emerge from the wall, followed by a cart horse and about nine or ten pairs of Roman Soldiers. He fell, terrified, from his ladder and stumbled into a corner to hide. The soldiers appeared to be armed legionaries, visible only from the knees up, in a marching formation, but were “scruffy”. They were distinctive in three ways: they carried round shields on their left arms, they carried some kind of daggers in scabbards on their right side and they wore green tunics. When they descended to the level of the Roman Road, on which Martindale had stood his ladders, he was able to see that they wore open sandals with leather straps to the knees.

The experience was so frightening for Martindale that he suffered a nervous breakdown for several months and never returned to his job as a plumber. Many years later excavations in the city revealed that the descriptions of the soldiers dress given by Martindale, at first dismissed as anomalous, in fact matched those of local reserve soldiers who took over the Roman Garrison when the regular soldiers began returning to Rome in the fifth century. During the course of his long life Martindale recounted his experience many times, but never changed any of the details and always refused any payment”.

That’s it for this week but

for wherever next!
📷 😊

35 thoughts on “York 2015 remastered ~ The Treasurer’s House”

  1. Nothing like tearing a house down and rebuilding it just so that it will make a nicer display vault for your furniture. I’ve often thought of doing something similar.

    Love the Roman ghosts too. Because why shouldn’t there be a ghost platoon of legionnaires hiding out in the walls? Makes as much sense as a lady in black or whatever.

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  9. The lesson is: never remove a coal-fired central heating. Poor lad, Harry. I checked: the first Asterix and Obelisk adventure came out in 1961, so Harry couldn’t have been subconsciously influenced by that. Mysterious it is! Anyway, I love your pictures and I agree that the Blue Room is the most pretty of all, having a unity in style and colour.

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  11. What a beautiful house, but glad I don’t have to dust & polish the ornate furniture! (all those nooks & crannies). The Roman soldier story is pretty exciting! I can see what a fright the poor plumber might have had. Great photos!

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  13. Frank Green sounds like he was quite a character, but what an amazing house! I imagine each and every room must be as equally stunning as the ones you photographed. Just utterly gorgeous.
    And that’s frightening (and intriguing) about Harry Martindale. I wonder if anyone else ever experienced a similar vision.

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