[122999] York : Fairfax House - St Catherine of Alexandria and the Conversion of the Philosophers

Fairfax House, Castlegate, York, 1755-62.

By John Carr of York (1723-1807).

For Viscount Fairfax of Emley.

Grade l listed.

 

St Catherine of Alexandria and the Conversion of the Philosophers who are Burned Immediately before St Catherine's Imprisonment.

German School.

Oil on panel, early C16.

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Fairfax House is a triumph of Georgian design. Bought by Charles Gregory, 9th Viscount Fairfax of Emley, for £2000 in 1759, he employed master architect John Carr of York to transform the existing building into a magnificent and fashionable townhouse. Lord Fairfax gifted the house to his sole surviving child making Anne Fairfax a property-owning woman in her own right.

 

Here both Anne and her Father spent the winter season. Standing on the thriving street of Castlegate, the main thoroughfare to York Castle, and sitting on the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss, Fairfax House was at the very centre of York’s polite society and perfectly positioned as a base from which to enjoy York’s burgeoning city-life and social scene.

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Uploaded on June 20, 2023
Taken on June 3, 2023