MANSION HOUSE UPDATE: "Here's where you could have lived, Lord Mayor!"

Cllr Dave Taylor and his Lady Mayoress, Susan Ridley, were originally expected to be able to move in to the Lord Mayor's flat at the top of the Mansion House in December.

But delays have meant the building will not now be ready before his year of office comes to an end later this month.

A visit last week to the house - the traditional home of the Lord Mayors of York - to see progress was some consolation.

The stateroom is still filled with the scaffolding on which workmen have been standing to repair the ceiling; the two basement kitchens resemble a building site, although brick ovens in the style of a Georgian kitchen are beginning to take shape; and the entire roof is covered with a temporary second roof of scaffolding and plastic sheeting to keep the building dry while slates and leading are repaired.

But the end is now in sight, admitted Richard Pollitt, the Mansion House manager who has been overseeing the restoration. "We're hoping to get it open by late summer or early autumn," he said.

The restoration project was delayed mainly by the collapse of building firm William Anelay last autumn. The company had won the contract to restore the building, but went into administration in September. There was then a delay of several months before William Birch & Sons were appointed to continue the work in January.

View from the roof: Lord Mayor Dave Taylor and Lady Mayoress Susan Ridley on top of the Mansion House

Throughout that time, expensive scaffolding at the house had to remain in place. So inevitably the final bill for the project is likely to increase.

The total cost of the restoration (including an oral history project designed to capture the memories of people such as butlers, cleaners, cooks and servants who worked at the house) was originally set at £2.1 million, of which £1.2 million came from a Heritage Lottery Fund grant and the rest from the city council. The final cost is now likely to be more like £2.3million, Mr Pollitt said.

The collapse of Anelay wasn't the only challenge the restoration project faced. Surveys made before the restoration project began had revealed that the home of York's Lord Mayors had no proper foundations, and was built, almost literally, on sand - river sand, to be precise.

As a result, the centre of the house was very slowly beginning to sink - with noticeable cracks forming around the arch that leads from the hall to the great staircase.

New concrete foundations had to be poured to underpin the building, while higher up twelve steel beams were put in place to stabilise the upper floors.

These problems were all known about before the restoration work began.

It was also known that the stateroom ceiling would require some restoration work.

What wasn't clear was the extent of the damage to the ceiling.

HOLDING UP: The civic party examine the stateroom ceiling, which has now been repaired

When they began to investigate, workmen were appalled to learn that a large part of the ornate plasterwork was literally hanging by a hair.

It had clearly been made on the cheap when the house was built in the 1720s, said Mr Pollitt.

It was a lath-and-plaster ceiling. Narrow strips of wood - the laths - were attached to the joists in the ceiling, forming a framework of wooden strips with narrow gaps between each strip which covered the entire ceiling. Plaster was then applied. Some forced its way into the gaps between the laths, providing an anchor from which the plaster ceiling effectively hung.

The problem was that in some parts of the ceiling the gaps between the laths were too small, Mr Pollitt said. When the ceiling was plastered back in the 1720s, the wet plaster wasn't able to force its way between the gaps - meaning there was little or no support for the plasterwork.

In some places, the only thing supporting the ceiling was the horse hair which had been mixed with the plaster to strengthen it.

"It was ready to drop at any time," Mr Pollitt said.

In short, generations of Lord Mayors entertaining distinguished guests in the stateroom could easily have had the ceiling fall on their heads.

The problem has now been rectified using special steel pins that will not be visible once the plastering is completed. So thankfully future Lord Mayors will not be putting life and limb at risk whenever they enter the room...

PAN-TASTIC: The civic party visit the restored Georgian kitchen

The parlous state of the stateroom ceiling wasn't known about before the restoration project began, so that, too, has helped push up costs.

The entire restoration project has been a challenging one, Mr Pollitt admitted. "It has been a fascinating process. Some of it has been quite horrible! But I've been fortunate to have the chance to do it. And it has been a very important process. We've been future-proofing the building for those who come after us."

The Lord Mayor, Cllr Taylor, is philosophical about the fact that he'll never get to live in the official home of the city's Lord Mayors.

"I'm disappointed," he admitted. "I would have liked to live here. But the work needed to be done, and it will be lovely when it is finished."

He paused. "I might ask the next Lord Mayor if she will invite us to stay for the weekend!"

Cllr Barbara Boyce, you have been warned...

A VERY SPECIAL MUSEUM

Once the Mansion House does reopen, it will continue to be the official home of the Lord Mayor of York, and will also be used for important civic functions.

It will also, however, be opened to the public for part of the week as another - if very special - York museum.

The Mansion House as it will look once restoration work is complete

Visitors will be able to roam the building, taking in the great dining room, the stateroom (don't worry, the ceiling won't fall in), the Minstrel's Gallery and robing rooms such as the yellow drawing room. You'll be able to visit the recreated Georgian kitchen in the basement (there will be a modern, working kitchen in the room next door).

Two rooms up on the first floor, meanwhile, will have been converted to display the house's unique collection of gold and silver: including Elizabethan 'pottage' spoons from the late 1500s; a pair of glorious silver tankards gifted to the Lord Mayor in 1672; and a wealth of other spoons, cutlery, tankards, salvers and other silverware.

The Mansion House also has the oldest silver chamber pot anywhere in the country, dating from the late 1600s. It would have been used by Lord Mayors past, and their distinguished guests. In more modern times, says Richard Pollitt, it has been placed on the dinner table when the Lord Mayor sits down to entertain distinguished guests, where it acts as a very unusual conversation piece...