History and Heritage
Opened in 1878, The Royal York Hotel is a
magnificent five-storey building of yellow Scarborough brick, with
Tadcaster stone dressings. Built to accommodate the aristocracy of
the North, as well as the wealthy Yorkshire industrialists, it
featured elegant, high-ceilinged banqueting rooms for social
functions and a hundred large, well appointed bedrooms for anyone
who could afford 14 shillings a night.
Guests waiting to enter the hotel can still
use the original electric doorbell system. A panel fitted with
buzzers and moving discs, set into the wall by the porters' desk,
remains in full working order. The splendid ironwork construction
of the main staircase is a much-admired feature of the hotel.
Supported on one side only, it forms three upper galleries and
provides a fascinating perspective of the stairwell viewed from
above or below.
The coffee-room had a magnificent view of York
Minster and the hotel grounds which, in those days, extended right
down to the River Ouse. The room has since been enlarged and is now
the main restaurant.