York walks: 2004

I'm not sure what happens in a Drill Hall, but I guess it's something related to military matters. These days it houses part of Barnitts hardware store, and is filled with garden and household goods. It's an unusual-looking building, and of a style rare in York, so it's pleasing that its exterior was preserved. The building is on the corner of Colliergate and St Andrewgate. It is, my reference book tells me, a good example of the use of polychromatic brick (ie, I guess, multi-coloured brick), and there aren't a lot of examples of this in York. The fire station building, a former chapel, is another example of this style.

English Heritage listing records say that it was designed in the late 19th century by Gould and Fisher for the First West Yorkshire (York) Rifle Volunteer Battalion.

Above (right): Inscription above the doorway – "Pro aris et focis" – "For our altars and our home".

Related pages:

For more about the street of St Andrewgate see York Walks /2: St Andrewgate and Spen Lane