EnglishLanguage School - New Street

New Street between Daveygate and Coney Street always seems to be busy whenever I pass by with students from the English Language College standing in groups, taking a break from their studies. There are several English Language Colleges in York. Ones I know of include one in Coney Street and one in Micklegate.

Lift up your eyes 12

This Starbucks in Coney Street always strikes me as ana interesting building. I enjoy the contrasting brick and stonework. Evidence of the building's former existence as a branch of Martin's Bank can be seen on the corner of the building in the gold and red shield. The carved angels around the top of the ground floor level may not be to everybodies taste but they do add a certain character to the building.

Lift up your eyes 10

The modern shop fronts hide the mdiaeval origins of these buildings in Coney Street. The age of these buildings is revealed by the way that the upper stories overhang the lower stories. Taxes were levied on the footprint of buildings hence the trend to build buildings with a greater floor area above the ground level.

Lift up your eyes 9

It isn't worth lifting your eyes too far here it isn't worth it. The interesting section of this building is the art deco ornamentation in the shop signboard. The Wallis shop next door also has similar decoration. Probably built as a set of three originally.

Lift up your eyees 8

Hotel Chocolat next to Curry's Digital in Coney Street is this wonderfully artistic upper floor window divided into three sections with decorated pillars to the side. I love the rounded tops of the windows and the lacework cutout of the wood above the window. Although the structure of the upper window is reflected in the lowerwindow the black paint makes it less noticeable. I just do not like too much black paint, makes places look dreary. More of the art deco tracery above Curry's Digital tomorrow.

Lift up your eyes 4

Although relatively plain, this is one of the Orange shops in Coney Street, it does have a small degree of ornamentation around the windows raising it up from the plain drab classification.

Another One Bites The Dust?

Is the credit crunch really starting to bite or is it a case of Richard Branson knew exactly what he was doing when he sold Virgin Megastore record shops to Zavvi? Maybe a little bit of both is true, he certainly is a sharp operator and seems to know when it is time to get out of a business area. This weekend saw some ugly scenes at the Coney Street Zavvi shop with customers with vouchers that were not being honoured getting very irate.

The Willow - Coney Street

Yes I am goping to say it again, lift your eyes up above the ground floor and also above the first floor to find this little architectural gem above The Willow Chinese Restaurant in Coney Street.

Martin's Bank Crest - Coney Street

Buidling adornments around York can be interesting this crest is on the corner of the Starbucks Coffeeshop in Coney Street. The crest is about all that remains to indicate the former presence of the Martins bank that used to occupy the site. Martins bank was bought by Barclays Bank in 1969, when all of its branches were swallowed up as brancjhes of Barclays. Under the usual Bank rationalisations the site was sold off by Barclays and eventually became a Starbucks.

Doors within the walls 3 - Mansion House

This is probably one of the grandest doors in York. The Mansion House is the residnce of the York Mayor when he is in office and can be found at the top of Coney Street overlooking St. Helens Square.

Another Newey Clock - Coney Street

This is the Little Admiral clock at St. Martin Le Grand church in Coney Street. It was restored by Geoff Newey in the 1960s after being badly damaged in a German air raid during WWII.

Coney Street - Boots the Chemist

Coney Street is probably the most popular shopping street in York. It is absolutely heaving on Saturday afternoons with shoppers. Most of them are focused on their shopping and miss the architecture and design features that are above their line of vision. I know it is becoming like a mantra with me, but, "lift up your eyes and look at the floor levels above the ground floor". This wonderful bit of building is above Boots the Chemist and was plainly two adjacent buildings in an earlier time before being knocked through into one large building that turns through ninety degrees and has a separate entrance in Feasegate. The coat of arms of the city can be seen on the left hand side of the right window and the Cross Keys seal of St. Peter(York Minster is dedicated to St. Peter) on the right hand side.

St. Martin le Grand - Coney Street

If I have walked past this church once I have walked past it a hundred times (or more)! On Friday, I saw that it was open, the signs saying "Church Open" are a certain giveaway, and went in for the first time in 48 years. Inside, it is an absolute gem of a church.

Above the alter below the window is a masterpiece depiction of the "Last Supper" in gold painted aluminium by artist Frank Roper which can only be described as awe inspiring and powerful.

Having suffered heavily from bombing by the Luftwaffe air raid of 29th April 1942 during World War II the shape of the church is a little bit strange with half the structure missing making the outside view from Coney Street a little unsymetrical. For images of the damaged church and before it was damaged see the archives of "Imagine York : Historic Photographs"

The main west window was taken down and stored for safekeeping at the start of the war and placed into a new, rebuilt wall at the side of the church during restoration.It depicts the life of St. Martin le Grand also known as St Martin of Tours.