WALK across Lendal Bridge today, and the modern riverside offices in Wellington Row form a familiar sight.
But the site could have been developed very differently, had either of two different ideas in the 1980s won the support of city planners.
In 1984, The Yorkshire Evening Press reported that Armstrong Oiler wanted to move out of its site in Wellington Row, which had once housed the first Rowntree's factory.
At that stage, there were no plans to demolish the building. Instead, it would be turned into a huge shopping, restaurant and music venue.
A planning application proposed a bar, shop and food franchise on the ground floor; a larger bar and two shops on the first floor; offices on the second and third floors; a lounge, disco and bar on the fourth floor; and a restaurant on the top floor.
As history has shown, however, that idea came to nothing.
18 months later, in March 1986, we reported a new set of proposals. This time, the building was to be demolished and replaced with "a luxury 140-bedroomed hotel, a futuristic glass-fronted planetarium and the biggest cinema screen in the country".
This idea evolved and rumbled on for a few years. In 1988, developers presented Evening Press readers with this artist's impression, with Lendal Bridge just hidden (or hiding?) off to the right.
The proposal was now for a £15 million hotel and leisure complex, including 118 bedrooms over six floors, a giant-screen cinema and a food hall.
Councillors and conservationists were, it was reported, generally favourable although there were concerns that the development might dwarf Guildhall and rival the Minster in size.
Demolition work had by this point begun on the Armstrong Oiler building, offering an unusual view of All Saints Church in North Street.
In April 1988, city councillors were advised to approve the plan.
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But within nine months, it was off the table and General Accident were instead eyeing the site, just yards from their Yorkshire House offices.
The rest is history. General Accident, then Norwich Union, then Aviva occupied the site, and York had to wait another decade for a new city-centre cinema, with City Screen opening in 2000.
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