Reflections, Stonebow House, 20 June 2018

Over the years we’ve spent a lot of time looking at Stonebow House. Since its recent remodelling, as well as looking at it we can look through it, from one side to the other. Or look at it and see it reflecting buildings around it, in a way it didn’t do before. Or both together.

Through Stonebow House, view of St Saviourgate, April 2018

There’s a man on St Saviourgate, by one of the taxis parked at the taxi rank, looking through from his side as I took the photo from the other side, standing on Stonebow. The glass also reflects nearby pedestrians on Stonebow, and to the right, part of the telephone exchange and the newer build and cranes in the Hungate area down the road.

At some point this space on the ground floor will be fitted out and filled, maybe has been since I was last up there. I was hanging on and holding back this update until the building’s remodelling looked finished, but as things seem to have stalled in terms of the completion and occupation of the ground floor I thought I’d report on it anyway. Mainly because of the pleasing reflections that it now offers from the expanses of ground floor glass it didn’t have before.

Stonebow House and its reflections, 14 July 2018

I felt I needed to see something pleasing in the new-look Stonebow House, as on the negative side of things it does mean, as previously mentioned here on these pages, that the ordinary public now can’t nip up onto the walkway and the car park deck to take photos of the surrounding changing scene.

Another quite pleasing thing is the retention of the tree, a healthy looking whitebeam. As I mentioned some months back, there had been an application to fell the tree, to make landscaping easier at this end of the site. There were objections, and the application was later withdrawn, so the tree remains, and looked handsome this spring, despite the unfinished look of the area around it.

Stonebow House, with retained tree, April 2018

Up above the glassy sides of the lower level the former office block of grey concrete has become an apartment block of concrete with brown panels added.

Stonebow House, residential block, 27 May 2018

Balconies too. Balconies on Stonebow House, who’d have thought it.

Stonebow House from St Saviourgate, 20 June 2018

I wasn’t offended by the old-style building and have no particular view on this change on the upper parts. A while back I asked on Twitter what people thought, and had an interesting range of responses. (Thanks to everyone who answered.)

The way the place has changed at ground level is really interesting, not just in terms of the novelty of being able to see through from St Saviourgate to Stonebow and vice versa, but particularly in the corner where the concrete steps used to be.

Stonebow House view, evening, 27 May 2018

The transformation here is striking. The opening up of it, so that it is more overlooked and visible from various angles. There are bike racks here now. Some in use, which suggests that this area by the Stonebow is seen as as a safer and friendlier spot than it perhaps seemed before.

New bike racks, and reflections, corner of Stonebow House, 20 June 2018

From a concrete-covered corner to a brighter place, with bikes.

On one hand there’s the building itself — which I’ve found very interesting, which is why I’ve bothered to go back quite a few times in recent months to take photos of it — and then there’s the marketing of it …

York city living moves to the east as gentrification takes hold, reported the Yorkshire Post, in October last year, in an article in its property section promoting the new-look Stonebow House: ‘a new city centre hotspot that’s attracting hipsters and high-end buyers from all over the country and beyond’.

Quite a change then, from the widely despised old office block sticking up above the charming street of St Saviourgate.

‘Well-heeled buyers have spotted the potential of the city centre’s eastern gateway’, said the article.

Perhaps one of the new residents up there can carry on the tradition of recording the additions and changes to the local area skyline and streetscape, now that the steps that took us up there are gone.

. . . . .

I’ve worn out many pairs of shoes with all my long-winded wanderings all over York compiling this resident’s record of York and its changes. If you’re feeling ‘well-heeled’, or just feeling like you appreciate the particular perspective provided on these pages — (independent and thoughtful) — then contributions to my shoe replacement/virtual coffee funds are appreciated. This isn’t like Facebook — I have to pay the invoice to the hosting company every month.

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Reflection of Stonebow House in the Central Methodist church noticeboard, St Saviourgate

Previously we were at Carecent, behind the Central Methodist church. The glass in the noticeboard at the front reflects the building opposite, a well-known part of the York skyline. Yes, Stonebow House. Let’s nip over there now.

Oh no, many readers will be thinking, I’d really rather not …

Thing is, we were last here looking at Stonebow House when plans had been submitted for its renovation and change of use, and those plans are about to be decided upon, in a meeting this week. So I thought we could have a quick revisit, as I’ve had a look at the report prepared for the planning committee (PDF).

So here we go then, dashing across St Saviourgate to the alleyway through the middle, where the door to the Duchess used to be.

‘This access is now closed’. Oakgate sign, Stonebow House

Except we can’t, because it’s already blocked off. One senses that there’s been some eagerness to shut the place down.

Never mind, let’s go round the other side and try the stairs. If they haven’t already been closed off/knocked down. And here we are …

1960s Stonebow House steps with 21st century built office block behind

Stonebow House, steps

Another ‘access closed’ sign and barrier on the lower level walkway. But I’ve stuck my camera round the side of the barrier to capture this soon-to-be-removed view of the walkway here, and the empty commercial units with their mucky windows.

Stonebow House, from lower level walkway, looking towards Pavement

This walkway looks likely to be removed, to widen the pavement area below, or, as the committee report puts it ‘revising entrances off the street to impinge less on the pavement’, resulting in an increase in width of about 1.8 metres. This will I imagine be welcomed by the people who queue at the bus stops here, and all the pedestrians squeezing past the people queuing at the bus stops.

Stonebow House, lower level from Stonebow pavement, Aug 2013

We’re also going to get some ‘public realm uplift’ around the remodeled building, with repaving in the same material as has been used at the front of the Hiscox building. Not clear whether this paving is going to be provided by the developer or paid for by council tax payers.

The committee report (PDF) really is worth a read as it summarises the various aspects of the proposed changes, the comments and concerns raised about the plans, and how they’ve been modified as a result.

It also gives a different perspective on one of the main criticisms of the building, which is the way it seems to block the view of the Central Methodist Church and St Saviour’s church:

The proportions of the tower and refinement of the architecture are a good example of its type and evidentially valued as representing our culture at a rapidly changing period of time: York is known for its layers of history and so, Stonebow House has a contribution to make. The tower itself (squat for its type- presumably tempered for a York context) is positioned with a degree of acknowledgement to its setting towards the lower end of the site. It does leave partial views of the church of St Saviour and the Central Methodist Church from Pavement above the podium. These views would not have been possible in the 19th century and earlier.
(Committee Report, 3.3)

I think many of us are familiar with the now widely-circulated photo of the site before Stonebow House was built, with the columns of the Methodist church unobscured from pavement level to top. But of course that empty site was a temporary thing, a clearance area. Stonebow House was built on a site where other buildings had been demolished, buildings also obscuring views, as buildings always do.

And before we leave this angle on things, that of buildings obscuring and affecting others, let’s pop back to the other end where those soon-to-be-removed steps are. Beyond that is the ‘back end’ of the building, a service area.

This corner/back part is referred to often in the committee report and other documents as being subject to ‘antisocial behaviour’. One of the most antisocial is its use as a toilet. So the plans are designed to deal with that too, by removing the steps. Here’s a reminder of what the steps look like from the street.

Stonebow House and its more recent neighbour

Perhaps it needs to be said that this corner has been somewhat altered by the large bulk of the office block built in recent years right up against the steps. Previously the site was occupied by a garage/car showroom, which as I recall was a rather low structure, and left this corner with more light, and feeling a lot more open, and therefore far less likely to be used for ‘antisocial activities’.

There’s clearly an enormous appetite to tame the Brutalism of Stonebow House, but let’s not forget that the 21st century tendency to build upwards as high as possible on any city centre site might also cause some blight on nearby buildings, alter the character of areas dramatically.

The steps are one of the most interesting (and useful) parts of the building, and these plans will remove them. I’ll be sad to see them go, and the access they gave us to an elevated view of the changes in the Hungate redevelopment area, just across the road, over recent years.

View from Stonebow House: Hungate redevelopment, 29 Aug 2013

(Spot the differences …)

View from Stonebow House: Hungate area redevelopment, 25 Sept 2016

That photo above was taken a few weeks back, and perhaps when I’m next up that way the whole thing will be no longer accessible.

Anyway, thanks for accompanying me on this short wander/exploration of our Brutalist ‘eyesore’, before it’s tamed and prettified.

For anyone feeling jaded by all of that, here’s a photo taken on the same evening as that one above, on the walk away from Stonebow House. A rainbow over the Hiscox building, a 21st century office building more admired than Stonebow House ever was.

Rainbow by the Hiscox building, 25 Sept 2016

… Or alternatively, for those who, like me, have good memories of Stonebow House … a reminder that it isn’t so much what a building looks like as the good times that happen within it.

Doorway of the Duchess, York, 6 June 2016

For me, for example, remembering my cousin Liam’s gig continuing for a while outside. Stonebow House hasn’t just been a place of ‘antisocial activity’ but, for the record, saw a lot of social activity too, as many of us know, and I hope will remember, when it’s another rather posher kind of place.

Further information/update

As expected, the plans were approved at the meeting on 6 Oct. You can watch the relevant part of the meeting on this link  (starts at 33:45) to the City of York Council YouTube channel. The Press also includes a report of the meeting.

The post Brutalism tamed: Stonebow House plans appeared first on York Stories.

Graffiti on the steps of Stonebow House, 4 May 2016

Recently the local press covered the long-awaited news that Stonebow House was going to be retained, refurbished, and would have at least another fifty years of life. This news was greeted with widespread rejoicing, dancing in the streets, and a spontaneous draping of the structure with colourful ‘yarn bombing’. The ‘Save Our Stonebow’ banner that had hung off the building for months had a triumphant ‘D’ added to the word ‘save’, and campaigners paraded around the parapet holding it aloft, to cheers and jubilation from the assembled crowds standing in Stonebow.

Ok, most of that didn’t happen.

But the first bit is true, that there’s a planning application to retain and remodel the building. It’s on this link:

16/01003/FUL | Stonebow House The Stonebow York YO1 7NY (and associated application 16/01018/ORC)

A couple of years ago it was looking like Stonebow House might be demolished. I wondered if members of the council of the time had hit upon the idea of demolishing Stonebow House, allegedly ‘York’s most hated building’, as a way to make themselves more popular. And indeed many residents seemed genuinely excited at the prospect. So the disappointment was palpable in the Press comments under the story about the building having at least another fifty years of life in it.

Not always grey. Like other buildings, it looks better in bright sunshine

Anyway, let’s have a look at what we have before us. Plans for a change of use and a change of appearance for Stonebow House. From proper 1960s brutalist style to glassy/more classy?

There’s no point in repeating what has already been covered by local media. But having had a look at the available information I want to draw attention to a few specific points. Mainly about what we might lose. Or, what seems like a loss from my perspective.

Somewhere over the Stonebow

At present, the stairs at one end of the building give pedestrian access to the top of the plinth/podium/deck — let’s just call it the car park area. Since my urban explorations of 2004 I’ve appreciated this elevated vantage point and used it often to take photographs of the changing landscape of the Hungate redevelopment and the rather picturesque and varied streetscape on its other sides. For example, this page from 2014, comparing two views from the Stonebow House car park, a decade apart.

The plans will remove the stairs to the car park area. Images in the planning application documents show the proposed change:

How it looks at present (from the Heritage, Townscape and Visual Impact
Assessment, Appendix 2)

Proposal, how it might look, with the stairs removed (source document: as above)

There have been photos online recently of the fantastic views from the office tower above, but that tower hasn’t been open to public access as the car park area has. It wasn’t somewhere the urban wanderer could wander into, whereas the car park was. That’s an important point. Here on these pages I’ve focused on what all of us can access and see, from the street, from just walking about, no appointment needed. That’s the case with the car park area at Stonebow House. You just nip up the concrete steps and there you are, with an elevated view of the surrounding streets and roofscape.

Hungate redevelopment area, from Stonebow House car park, 4 May 2016

From the elevated vantage point we’re likely to lose access to. 4 May 2016

But of course, with the substantial financial investment and people living in the ‘tower’ part, they won’t want us all wandering about willy-nilly in their expensive private space. The plan is to remove the stairs and to make the elevated platform ‘residents only’. Car park space and a garden area, according to the plans.

So my record of the changing face of this part of York from this particular vantage point won’t be able to continue. Does that matter? Probably not, on the grand scale of things. But it seems important to note this proposed change to the building. It’s essentially another example of a now familiar phrase, the ‘privatisation of public space’. I realise, in using that phrase, that some of what’s seen as ‘public space’ perhaps didn’t have any rights of occupation behind it but was just the space we used without thinking much about it, before it started being gated off, often as part of redevelopment, by new owners.

A few years back, the responses to a survey on these pages included this comment on possible reuse of Stonebow House:

there is a great opportunity to create a roof top garden to replace the carpark. How brilliant will that be.

I assume the contributor meant a garden for us all to use, not a private space.

Below the plinth

The ‘designing out’ of crime and anti-social behaviour is considered as part of building development and redevelopment. This can be achieved by removing dark corners and increasing natural surveillance, but also of course by closing places off.

A passageway through the centre of the building links St Savioursgate with the elevated walkway adjacent to The Stonebow. The external stair and passageway create dark and unwelcoming spaces with little natural surveillance. North Yorkshire Police’s ‘Designing out Crime’ Officer has commented that these spaces currently attract anti-social behaviour due to their poor design.

(Planning Statement)

In particular the existing stairway attracts rough sleeping and anti-social behaviour

(John Orrell, DLA Architecture (see further info, below)

At present Stonebow House is an open kind of structure, not only encouraging public access via the stairs to the car park above but with an elevated walkway above pavement level and that cut-through pedestrian access down the side of the Duchess’s entrance, through to St Saviourgate. The redesign seems to close all that off, enclose the place in glass.

Which makes it a different building entirely, really, doesn’t it. With a different aesthetic and a different feel.

It might be ugly, but it has been an open, well-used, egalitarian kind of place.

The ‘garden’ area

And then there’s that ‘rest garden’ area. I’m not sure what to call it really. It has a tree on it, and low walls, and it’s outside the entrance to the retail unit currently occupied by Heron Foods. There was presumably a reason it was left ‘open’ when Stonebow House was built. Perhaps so that the ‘brutalism’ of this building wasn’t too brutal at this end. It was perhaps a concession to the existing streetscape.

From the garden area at the end of the building, looking down Stonebow

This area is a bit ramshackle and scruffy, with uneven paving and bikes and clutter. But in that it’s no worse than Parliament Street and many other places in the city centre. And anyone can sit here and watch the world go by.

The proposals show railings on the low walls around this area. Railings enclose a space and establish a boundary, in a more posh kind of way than a low wall does, and they also stop people sitting on the walls.

Apparently street drinkers occupying this area have caused some concern. It’s something I’ve never noticed or had a problem with, but the new layout seems to be designed with that in mind. The visualisation of the new layout smooths it all out, puts railings on one side, and has a cluster of tables. Café tables, presumably. So, as in so many other places, perhaps you’ll need a few quid just to sit here.

Looking across the small garden area from the St Saviourgate side

Consultation, histories, stories

It seems unlikely that these plans for Stonebow House will be refused. They may be modified a little, in response to the views of influential organisations. There has been consultation already, in drawing up the plans:

The brief has developed through an iterative process during which time the client and consultant team have engaged with key stakeholders including the Local Authority Planning and Highways Officers, the York Conservation Advisory Panel, York Civic Trust and other stakeholders. This engagement has helped shape the brief, reflecting the requirements and aspirations of a wide range of stakeholders in the project.

(Design and Access Statement)

There appears to have been no consultation with the people who actually use the building regularly, the ‘key stakeholders’ with the most to lose, but that’s standard really isn’t it.

We can chip in now with our comments on the planning application — objections, support comments, general comments — but that’s probably essentially pointless and a waste of time.

This is seen as a problematic building, which many people would prefer to see demolished. I would have said that too, years back.

But then, after giving it more thought, one day in summer 2004, I realised that I ‘got it’, what Stonebow House was about. And ten years on from that, a couple of years back, I wrote that I’d become quite fond of its hulking great brutalist bulk, because:

As the city is increasingly sanitised/gentrified/feminised/’reinvigorated’, Stonebow House still stands there, a big growling 1960s scowl on York’s otherwise pretty, visitor-greeting face.

(Stonebow House: then and now, 11 February 2014)

And now, like so many other places, it will be remade to fit the new aesthetic. Many people will be happy about this. But the aspects that made it interesting to me will be removed.

In its new guise it will no doubt have new points of interest. Perhaps the glassy aspect will offer interesting reflections. Glassy things usually do.

When demolition seemed a possibility I discussed with friends whether some kind of party should take place up on the car park part, while it was still available to use, as a way to say farewell to the place, for those of us who had become quite fond of it. At the time I didn’t envisage it becoming a private garden. The fact that it might be makes a temporary occupation/celebration seem even more appealing.

That said, events organising really isn’t my strong point, and I need to move on to other planning applications and local explorations. But if anyone is planning a ‘goodbye to Stonebow’ party in its car park please let me know, won’t you.

Further information

There’s already a website with marketing information, presumably in anticipation of approval of the planning application.

The relevant documents for planning application 16/01003/FUL

In the documents list on the link above, of particular interest: the Design and Access Statement (including information on the building’s original design, and background/context on ‘brutalist’ architecture); the Heritage, Townscape and Visual Impact Assessment (and various appendices), and the Planning Statement.

Also among the planning application documents is an interesting letter, dated 20 May, from John Orrell, on behalf of DLA Architecture. It’s in response to a letter from the Twentieth Century Society, who have expressed concerns about the proposals for the building: ‘The Society state that the proposals will undermine the character of the building, stripping away much of the concrete in a manner which they consider to be detrimental.’  The PDF is on this link (or access it via the documents list link above).

One of the good things about planning applications is that the accompanying documents often contain interesting historical material, like this groovy 1960s illustration of how Stonebow House was envisaged, back then:

From some time back …

And more here, via Twitter:

One for you @HopperAndSpace Stonebow House, York
(artists impression and model) AR 1963
—
via http://t.co/mVqs2eGMwo pic.twitter.com/VVP7zAntMs

— This Brutal House (@BrutalHouse) March 19, 2015

There have already been many pages on this site reflecting on Stonebow House from many angles, including reactions to it. See the related pages links below for some of them, or see all pages tagged Stonebow.

The post A new future for Stonebow House appeared first on York Stories.

An article on the BBC website today names Stonebow House first in a list of unpopular concrete buildings, as suggested by readers. ‘Possibly the most hated building in the UK’ one reader suggests. I think perhaps most of the UK is unaware of our little bit of brutalist architecture, but certainly locally it seems to be disliked by many people, as buildings of this type usually are, it seems.

It’s as good a time as any not only to draw the attention of readers to earlier pages on this controversial building, but to include an update.

The office block above the shops isn’t as empty as it was. In fact it seems to have been well-used this year. As an article in oneandother.com described some months back: Creative Hub in the Heart of the City.

And on Twitter, a quick search revealed that it is being appreciated. Though views of it may not be popular, views from it are rather impressive.

Enjoying the view at the top of Stonebow House @vespertineyork pic.twitter.com/eq2MEiv7dj — Rina (@yorkiechefette) November 11, 2015

The view from the top of stonebow house #york #minster pic.twitter.com/Z5T9yKTer1 — Ellen Stubbings (@Honeydew_Mellen) October 12, 2015

Artist Sue Mann has been working on a project on the building:

Work responding to Stonebow House in York continues in preparation for exhibition early December – details to follow pic.twitter.com/Rg1pePlEwC

— Sue Mann (@SueJMann) November 13, 2015

And how did this come about?

Oakgate, Ltd owners of Stonebow House, in partnership with H&A and Blank Canvas agreed for all 4 floors to be used the Blank Canvas charity. — Hammond Associates (@HammondAssocUK) September 29, 2015

I’ve heard rumours that the Heron Foods store may not be occupying the lower section beyond next year, because of plans for the building (its demolition, perhaps) but have no further information from any official sources.

Here on York Stories we once composed a poem in its honour, and I wrote about its alluring ugliness: Stonebow Stories.

(And, if you’ve heard that it’s a listed building, that’s not true.)

More information, elsewhere on the web

While researching this page I stumbled upon this interesting piece: The case for listing The Stonebow House. A recommended read, even if you hate the place.

York: Living with History project on the Stonebow building (summer 2014)

Stonebow Studios: A new creative hub for York (Arts York webzine)

Users of the old office space in Stonebow House include the Arts Barge Project, York Hackspace and Plastic Fortune.

The post Stonebow House: still unloved? appeared first on York Stories.

August 2004, from Stonebow House, looking along Stonebow towards Peasholme Green. Across the remnants of Russell’s Used Car Centre, towards Wynsors World of Shoes. A shabby-looking street by this time, but when it cut through the medieval street pattern and made a new way through from Pavement to Peasholme Green in the 1950s I imagine it was an exciting local happening, particularly for the small number of people who had a car.

I wish I’d taken more photos back then, that morning in August ten years ago. But then I couldn’t see ahead to how much it would change, and I didn’t know I’d still be doing this.

But I am, so here’s the same view today:

View from Stonebow House, 25 Oct 2014

Well, the nearest I could get. There’s now a massive office block on what used to be Russell’s, and like everything built recently in the city centre it’s much taller than the low 20th century buildings. The new developments across the road are reflected in its windows, but it hides the happenings at the Hiscox site, which are moving on apace. More on that later perhaps.

And another from ten years ago, turning 90 degrees and facing the street of Stonebow, looking down Garden Place:

The telephone exchange on the right, and on the left another building demolished since as part of the redevelopment of the Hungate area. It sold furniture and oak flooring. Things now more usually sold from big boring sheds out on the outskirts of the city.

Changes here too:

The old street name of ‘Garden Place’ looked a bit daft in 2004, as any gardens here were long gone, but for the last few years it has had one, as part of the marketing suite for the Hungate development. The lawn and flowers thing does look a bit incongruous opposite Stonebow House, in the middle of the city, but the planting is regularly refreshed and does its best to distract our attention from the grey concrete of Stonebow House, opposite.

Behind the marketing suite, the massive new block of student accommodation for St John’s. I have a lot of photos of this from different angles, as I was startled by the size of it, as it grew and grew. Just one of many blocks of student accommodation in the city. The student population used to be less visible, out at Heslington on the campus. That this building, St John Central, is so massive and so — well, central — illustrates one of the most dramatic changes in the city over the last ten years, the huge increase in the student population. Of which much more could be said. Later perhaps.

Google Street View can’t capture the same angles as the photos above as they were taken from Stonebow House, but if you’d like to have a virtual wander down the street, here’s the area as captured by Google. (Mainly for the benefit of my many readers overseas and elsewhere who can’t visit in person.)

View Larger Map

I hope that displays for everyone as the Street View, which is currently showing the view in 2008. There’s a nice illustration of the changes in its transitions between images. If you move forward via the arrows you’ll see St John Central suddenly appear, as the next set of images recorded is from very recently, last month. If you keep moving forward down Stonebow to Peasholme Green you can see how work has begun on the Hiscox site, next to the Black Swan.

The post Stonebow area, 2004 and now appeared first on York Stories.

Survey: what would you like to see happen?

Asking what people would like to see happen to the building — the results aren’t surprising, in that coming out top is ‘Demolish it’. We have always known that many people hate it, and the present administration would probably love it to be dramatically demolished while they’re still in control of the city, to increase their ailing popularity before the elections in May. I can imagine the conversations that might have taken place. ‘They’re really angry and sound like they hate us! What can we do? They won’t even let us knock down that old tram shed without moaning about it! There must be something we can do that would be universally popular?’ Then looks of recognition and realisation, and someone says ‘Stonebow House!’, and they all rush into their control room where there’s a massive map of York, beamed onto a huge screen from James Alexander’s iPad, and he starts pointing at it with a long stick, and they plan their campaign.

Or something. Anyway, as we can see, not everyone thinks it should be demolished. 60.53% of the people who answered thought it should be. 31.58% thought it should be refurbished. 5.26% thought it should be left as it is. 2.63% thought the tower should be removed and the rest left. For reference, 38 people answered the survey. So not a massive sample of the York population, and obviously many of the people who answered will be people who visit this website because they’re interested in alternative views of York and appreciation of its less appreciated bits, because that’s what I do here. (But it was advertised on Twitter too, and I think on Facebook.) I’m not claiming that this is in any way ‘the true picture’. But it’s interesting. Well, I think so.

So, moving on to the other answers that SurveyMonkey helpfully turned into graphs and percentages.

General thoughts on Stonebow:

Survey: thoughts on Stonebow House

These answers are more interesting in a way, as this was a ‘tick all that apply’ question, and it reflected better perhaps the ambivalent feelings many of us have about the building. So people selected ‘a blot on the landscape’ but also ‘an interesting building’, or ‘thought provoking building’ for example.

37.84% think it’s ‘York’s worst eyesore’, which is perhaps not as high as we’d expect. Reading other comments elsewhere you’d think that absolutely everyone in York thinks it is.

‘Blot on the landscape': 35.14%. Then next in ‘popularity': 29.73% think it’s an interesting building, and 29.73% think it’s thought-provoking.

No one who answered thinks it’s a listed building — hurrah, the myth-challenging is working. (But one person thought it was designed by Poulson. As the earlier page also mentions, it isn’t, that myth needs tackling too.)

Some of the comments left under ‘other’ were included on the earlier page (and also passed on to the Living with History project, as previously mentioned). Two of the six ‘other’ comments cited the Ryedale building on Piccadilly as more of an eyesore than Stonebow House.

In the ‘which of these have you visited’ question I just included every venue or business or organisation I knew of that occupies Stonebow House or did in the past. Not surprising that the ‘most visited’ in the results is Fibbers, with the Duchess, the other music venue, not far behind:

Survey: businesses visited in Stonebow House

Other businesses mentioned, which I’d forgotten about or didn’t know about, were Harrowell’s Solicitors, a bus company’s offices, and also the Halifax Building Society (which of course not that long ago used to occupy the shop unit at the end where Heron Foods is now — funny how quickly you forget).

I hope the people who remember going to Fazer’s come back and add a comment telling us more about it. (I have a vague image, drifting in from the 80s, of a sign in the window in pink neon?)

I’ve often pondered whether we develop attachments to buildings because of what happens in them and in this particular case whether fond associations of happy events like going to gigs would mean a fond attachment to Stonebow House. So I thought I’d ask, as it seemed the ideal opportunity, whether it mattered much that Fibbers has moved to a different venue. The clear answer is ‘no’. It doesn’t matter, or not to the 21 people who answered this particular question. Although there is a bit of fondness for dear old grey Stonebow House, and a few people will miss going there.

Survey: does it matter that Fibbers has moved?

On the Living with History site: the issues in depth

Helen Graham has written about the recent meeting to discuss Stonebow House and the various arguments for and against on the Living with History site. Very interesting and well worth a read whether or not you care about Stonebow House in particular, as it also discusses other issues of wider significance regarding our buildings and how we view them, how and where we discuss them, and whose views might be seen to hold the most weight.

As I mentioned in the survey, your thoughts were passed on to Helen. Many of the ‘describe Stonebow in three words’ answers were displayed at the event. Others are here on this site, where I made a poem from them, and see also all pages tagged ‘Stonebow’.

And a quick apology, and footnote

Question 2 in the survey asked where you’d read about the recent debates on Stonebow House, and mentioned various websites. It should, of course, have mentioned York Mix, as they’ve had many interesting articles on this recently, which I have read. Apologies to them for the omission, which was merely the result of compiling the list in a hurry.

That ‘where did you read about it’ list also showed that The Press in York (known as the Yorkshire Evening Press when Stonebow House was born) continues to be where most York folk read most things, as 59.46% of people had been reading its news and articles on Stonebow House, with the rest of us lagging behind by quite a long way. Though I was at 45.95%. But then this is my site, and you were probably all just being polite.

And have you ever …

I assumed most people would have gone up to the Stonebow car park at some point to have a look at the view. Apparently not:

Have you ever …

It’s not as impressive as the view from the top of the Minster, I admit. But then getting up there costs nothing, and is far less tiring. I have a couple of photos taken from up there in ye olde days of 2004, which I’ll be delighting you with shortly.

Want to escape from the environs of Stonebow House?

Chocolate and Chicory — Buy now, immediate download from gumroad.com

New ebook, by me: Chocolate and Chicory: York and beyond, by bicycle. An exploration of the local landscape, its stories and histories, via themed journeys along the cycle tracks outside the city walls and the country lanes beyond the ring road. Can also be enjoyed from the comfort of your sofa. Read more …

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