York Unlocked offers chance to walk around unseen buildings

The Press visited Herbert House, one of the buildings opened up this weekend (October 5 and October 6) as part of York Unlocked 2024.

• Fifty unique buildings in York to be unlocked to public

There will be thousands of images seen of the exterior of this magnificent sixteenth century structure in Pavement, across from the world-famous Shambles.

But, along with others included within York’s architecture and private spaces in the citywide weekend event, relatively few people may have seen the inside.

The showcase for buildings and public spaces is in its third year and is run as a charity by its cohort of volunteers from York Unlocked, and entry is free.

Buildings such as Herbert House are not normally open to the public (Image: Kevin Glenton) The organisation works with building owners to ‘offer visitors the opportunity to discover, explore and enjoy’ the sites.

The ticketed events to certain venues have sold out, said organisers, but some buildings offer general access over the weekend.

Hundreds of people had visited Herbert House on a one-in, one-out basis during its two-hour opening window on Saturday.

The Guildhall interior (Image: Steve Morgan) On how the properties are chosen, project lead Steve Morgan said: “We’re only a small team of volunteers and attracting interest and expressing our intent to the property owners is a case of knocking on doors, or pushing notes through letterboxes.

“I think York is so rich with interesting architecture and in a way, a lot also gets missed.

“The world-famous stuff is great but if you’re someone who’s nosy, this is the time to get your fill.”

Most of the city is covered in a programme which fans out into designated districts of Bishopthorpe Road and York South, Bootham and Museum Gardens, Castlegate and Walmgate, the City Centre, Holgate, Micklegate, Bishophill and Railway, and North East.

Inside Herbert House, The Press met Guy Bowyer, chief executive officer of York Conservation Trust, along with artist Ric Liptrot.

Guy Bowyer and Ric Liptrot in front of a preview of his commissioned work for York Conservation Trust (Image: Kevin Glenton) The trust is taking part in York Unlocked 2024 and Ric, who has been based in Holgate for 15 years and works from Pica Studios in Grape Lane, had been commissioned by it to create a series made up of acrylic stencilling and paints, each of which he said represented the 'quarters' of the city centre.

He said each one previewing at Herbert House depicts buildings under the control of the trust but each also feature some of the city’s most iconic structures.

Queues also formed in St Mary's Tower in Bootham (Image: Kevin Glenton) Guy Bowyer said there was a 'quirk' to the brief, which related to some of the colours that were present in a recent finding made of a 100-year-old floor in De Grey House in St Leonards Place, a property acquired by the trust.

He described Ric’s work as a ‘montage of the colours and textures of York.’

York Unlocked 2024 runs until October 6 and many of the buildings do not required ticketed entry.