Grand Opera House
GRAND OPERA HOUSE, CLIFFORD STREET
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1257908
- Date first listed:
- 28-Feb-1986
- List Entry Name:
- Grand Opera House
- Statutory Address:
- GRAND OPERA HOUSE, CLIFFORD STREET
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2001-06-08
- Reference:
- IOE01/04021/04
- Rights:
- © Mr Martin Roberts. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1257908
- Date first listed:
- 28-Feb-1986
- Date of most recent amendment:
- 14-Mar-1997
- List Entry Name:
- Grand Opera House
- Statutory Address 1:
- GRAND OPERA HOUSE, CLIFFORD STREET
- Statutory Address 2:
- GRAND OPERA HOUSE, CUMBERLAND STREET
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- GRAND OPERA HOUSE, CLIFFORD STREET
- Statutory Address:
- GRAND OPERA HOUSE, CUMBERLAND STREET
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- York (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- SE 60311 51625
Details
YORK
SE6051NW CUMBERLAND STREET
1112-1/28/280 (North West side)
28/02/86 Grand Opera House
(Formerly Listed as:
CLIFFORD STREET
No.8
(SS Empire))
II
Includes: Grand Opera House CLIFFORD STREET.
Corn exchange and warehouse, converted to music hall. Corn
exchange and warehouse 1868; converted 1902, restored and
re-opened 1989. Conversion to music hall by JP Briggs.
MATERIALS: Cumberland Street front of red brick in English
bond, banded in orange brick, on sandstone plinth. King Street
front of red brick in Flemish bond, on rusticated sandstone
plinth, with sandstone ashlar dressings and bands of cogged
brick. Slate roofs.
EXTERIOR: entrance and foyer incorporated in Nos 2-10 Clifford
Street (qv). Cumberland Street front: 3-storey 4-window block
to left; taller block to right, of 3 storeys and basement, and
3 bays. Remodelled entrance in left block with panelled double
doors in plain doorcase: to right, small round-headed window,
and further right replacement panelled stage door beneath
overlight. On first and second floors windows are
round-headed, including tall staircase window between floors,
with stone sills and round arches of brick. All windows and
overlights have rounded 'Gothick' glazing. Gable eaves cornice
of three stepped courses of contrasting brick, with similar
band carried across gable apex beneath three stepped
ventilation slits. Block to right has double door at right end
beneath blocked former lifting opening: to left, inserted
basement door. On ground and first floors centre windows are
tripled and round headed, those on first floor stepped;
additional single window at left of ground floor. All windows
are now blocked and all have chamfered sills, forming sill
bands beneath tripled windows, and all openings have round
arches of brick.
King Street front: 3 storeys and basement; 7 bays. Basement
has five pairs of double board doors with tooled lintels, and
one altered doorway at right end. Ground floor windows over
chamfered basement band are tiered and paired, with cambered
heads, and stepped back beneath segmental arches of gauged
brick. On first and second floors, single tier of similar
paired windows, some retaining original diamond motif glazing,
others blind or blocked. First and second floor windows have
bands of cogged brick beneath stone sill bands: cogged brick
band also beneath eaves cornice of stepped brick corbels
surmounted by pierced brick parapet.
INTERIOR: restored re-using original fitments, including
scenery grid; bow-fronted box office front in new foyer;
panelled and half-glazed doors with embossed bevelled glass
and curvilinear glazing bars in segment-arched glazed screens
with spandrels decorated with Art Nouveau carving. Auditorium
retains two serpentine balconies both with moulded fronts.
Rectangular moulded proscenium arch with central cartouche,
flanked by full-height round arches on composite columns
containing pairs of bow-fronted boxes at each balcony level.
Ceiling is an oval saucer dome set in a rectangular surround
with decorated spandrels and plaster sunburst radiating from
the centre.
Listing NGR: SE6031151625
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 463303
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 24-Jun-2026 at 13:08:31.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
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