The land was earmarked for building in the late 18th century at a time when York was expanding quite rapidly because of its thriving industrial base, strategic importance to the North of England, its central location with good access to all parts of the country and, oh yes, it was (and still is) a very nice, genteel and civilised place to live.
This fact had not been a recent revelation of the inevitable urbanisation that followed the industrial revolution, in fact the Roman invaders had selected York or Eboracum as it was named as a vital stronghold and forward base for their campaigns up towards the Barbarian territories which would be those beyond the physical barrier of Hadrians Wall some 200 miles distant.
South Parade is close to but just outside the imposing Micklegate entrance in the historic city fortifications. Lost in the passage of time but excavated in the 20th Century was the site of a Roman Cemetery within the curtilage of the street as an indication of the size and calibre of York in that volatile era.
The Romano-British period was followed by a number of dominant occupiers of York including the Vikings and the city mirrored the regime changes of the country in the Dark and Middle Ages.
It took until the first quarter of the 19th Century for a consortium of York businessmen to raise the funds to start building on South Parade. Any optimism in making some money out of a proposed development of 20 houses would be surely tested as even in the 1820's it was a case of having to speculate to accumulate. There was a tremendous stigma attached to debt and even a rumour of bankruptcy would be ruinous for those involved. In a gamble, the residential terrace was thrown up.
Those attributes that are valued and revered by today's architectural historians and the discerning house buying public such as Flemish Bond brickwork, stucco rendering, sash cord windows and slate roofs were the basic requirements for Victorian construction and where savings and economies in the build could be made they would be greedily exploited.
Though now regarded as fine examples of Period town houses they were in their day nothing special.
Sales were apparently slow for what will have been the equivalent, then, of a Barratt Homes type estate.
The actual rectangular plot of land on which the twenty properties was built was long and narrow. The original landowners appear to have been a Religious Order of Sisters who still occupy today the St Bedes , Bar Convent to the east. Extensive grounds were still important to the seclusion and privacy of those in Holy Orders and the strip of land for South Parade may have been a reluctant sale to raise funds.
The north western end of the block fronts Blossom Street presenting a three storey elevation for the first house.
As the terrace developed the gently sloping topography allowed successive houses to have an habitable cellar and four upper floors although, again, the restrictions of the the landed area meant a house depth of only two rooms per floor or, in Imperial terms about 10 yards and a width of about 7 yards.
The buyers of the houses, when brand new, were not the wealthy or influential of York but more the middle class, urban professionals and upwardly mobile. There would be no real space for live in servants which a middle income could not anyway justify although a cook and housekeeper might be employed on a daily basis and just commute in from working class areas. The families would live from the first floor upwards with the lower ground floor providing kitchen and basic amenities. Coal fires heated the rooms culminating in an elongated chimney stack with eight pots above the same number of active flues.
The 1852 Ordnance Survey shows South Parade fully built and in fact the twenty houses had swelled to twenty one with a smaller structure tacked on the end (this was much later to be demolished). The mapping has symbols for landscaped forecourts with flower beds and at that time with an open front aspect onto further possibly public pleasure gardens.
The rear elevations were onto very small enclosed yards which will only have received sunlight for only a few hours in the morning. A number of the houses are shown to have outside toilets which to equivalent middle class modern sensitivities may seem very backward
York flourished in the 19th Century pioneering the Railway revolution and the manufacturing of chocolates in particular and the former open space in front of South Parade was rapidly developed with small and tightly packed terraced dwellings for workers.
It would be possible to completely overlook the existence of the block as it only now presented a public face onto the Blossom Street frontage.
Socio and Economic factors and pressures over the first part of the twentieth century, not untypical for the nation generally, saw South Parade deteriorate swiftly.
The houses, which as family homes could provide up to four bedrooms were capable of accommodating considerably more persons as hostels for single males and cheap boarding establishments for travelling salesmen and labourers. Many were sub divided for multiple occupancy and became very run down and dilapidated.
Commercial uses included offices, Gin shops and one or more brothels. The criminal fraternity of York frequented a particularly notorious drinking den on South Parade in Sunday sessions, so much so that the Police could be assured of the whereabouts of the troublemakers on that day and could relax a bit on their duties and even swing by to verify alibis.
The first three houses from Blossom Street were at some time knocked together at ground floor level and operated as a Car Showroom with premises above.
In the post war years there were proposals by the City Council to demolish and clear South Parade to make way for a new link road to relieve congestion arising from the upsurge in motor vehicle ownership that even to this day causes frequent gridlock around the perimeter roads of the City Walls.
It was touch and go whether the terrace would survive against what would be in the public interest for a better infrastructure for a progressive city.
A campaign to save the block led to a Grade 2 Listed Status in 1958 and the twenty houses joined the other 1568 Listed Buildings that characterise York.
It would be a few more decades before consistency returned to the occupier profile of owners and residents. The car showroom was returned to residential use.( In the foreground of the photograph below the contrast in brickwork from the alterations is clearly visible)
There is a well developed sense of Bohemian individuality in the street. Rare for York is that the road to the frontage is of Private Status, owned and maintained in common by the householders, some of whom bought out the shares of the others and built a courtyard garage block on the land cleared through demolition of the parasitical end house at the far end.
A few longstanding owners keep their houses sympathetic to the character of Victoriana but recently sold examples have been given the full contemporary make over to rival the bling-palaces of Premier League Footballers and at a hefty price tag to match. Number 8 sold in January 2016 for £815,000 after being marketed at £850,000.
The survival of South Parade is testament to the enduring nature of inner city housing of its era and should be celebrated. It's story is typical to many older streets and streetscapes in UK cities but many have not been so fortunate having been lost forever to the relentless pace of development.
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