81 - 87 Fulford Road

Image: © Ian Capper Taken: 4 Feb 2023

Victorian terrace first shown on the 1891 1:500 Town Plan when it was marked as part of Chelmsford Place. The row of arches on the left has an unusual history, coming originally from the York Theatre Royal, where a row of eight arches were included as part of a new façade to the theatre on to St Leonard's Place built in 1834 designed by the architect John Harper. The theatre was subsequently remodelled in 1879 and seven of the arches were relocated to create a decorative screen along the Fulford Road frontage of gardens to Manor House (now 73 Fulford Road off to the left of this photo, forming part of what is now called Saxon House), also including access to the coach houses of The Priory, a building on the opposite side of Fulford Road (see Image). In 1979 a four-storey block of flats, Ellwood Court, was built on the site of the Manor House gardens and it seems that the left hand section of the arches were removed then (if not before), leaving just the three remaining ones seen here (and a very short section of wall the other side of Ellwood Court). The remaining section of the site, including the coach houses, has seen various uses over the years, including a car store, car repair and cycle workshop for the coach houses and the addition of building behind the arches, which from 1992 housed a children's day nursery, "Pipkins". The whole site was sold in 2017 and proposals are in place for redevelopment, incorporating the arches, which were restored in 2020.

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