St Anthony's Hall in York

York

York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...

, England, is a former medieval

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

 guild

Guild

A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society...

hall and Grade I listed building. It currently houses the Quilt Museum and Gallery

Quilt Museum and Gallery

The Quilt Museum and Gallery, which opened in York on June 7th 2008, is Britain's first museum dedicated to the history of British quilt making and textile arts. The museum was founded and is operated by The Quilters' Guild of the British Isles. The Guild was formed in 1979 and is the national...

.

History

The Hall, located on Peasholme Green, was built between 1446 and 1453 on the site of a chapel of St Anthony for either the Guild of St Martin or the Guild of St Anthony (which was founded in 1446). After the decline of the Guilds, it was used between 1627 and 1705 for various purposes: as an arsenal

Arsenal

An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, issued to authorized users, or any combination of those...

, a military hospital and a prison. Between 1705 and 1947 it housed the York Bluecoat School

York Bluecoat School

The York Bluecoat School in York, England, was founded in 1705 as a charity school for forty poor boys.The school was founded by York Corporation, who initially provided and furnished a medieval guild hall, St Anthony's Hall, Peasholme Green, for use as the school building. The blue coats worn by...

, after which it was offered to the York Civic Trust. In 1953, it became the Borthwick Institute for Historical Research (now the Borthwick Institute for Archives

Borthwick Institute for Archives

The Borthwick Institute for Archives is the specialist archive service of the University of York, York, England. It is one of the biggest archive repositories outside London. The Borthwick was founded in 1953 as The Borthwick Institute for Historical Research. It was originally based at St...

), which moved in 2005 to a purpose-built building next to the J B Morrell Library on the campus of the University of York

University of York

The University of York , is an academic institution located in the city of York, England. Established in 1963, the campus university has expanded to more than thirty departments and centres, covering a wide range of subjects...

. The Quilt Museum and Gallery opened in the Hall in 2008.

Architecture

The Hall resembles the Merchant Adventurers' Hall

Merchant Adventurers' Hall

The Merchant Adventurers' Hall is a medieval guildhall in the city of York, England, and was one of the most important buildings in the medieval city. The majority of the Hall was built in 1357 by a group of influential men and women who came together to form a religious fraternity called the...

 in that it has two floors, of which the lower one consisted of a hospital and a chapel

Chapel

A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...

. In contrast to the Merchants' Hall, however, the walls of the lower floor are of stone (rather than brick) and the outer walls of the timber-framed

Timber framing

Timber framing , or half-timbering, also called in North America "post-and-beam" construction, is the method of creating structures using heavy squared off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs . It is commonplace in large barns...

upper floor were rebuilt in brick in the 17th century.).