NO sooner will one great York institution reopen this summer than another will close. York Art Gallery will open its doors on August 1, after an £8m refurbishment.

Later that month the Mansion House - home to York’s Lord Mayors - will close for its own 13-month £1.5 million restoration. It is probably not before time. Richard Pollitt, the house’s manager, admits the Georgian mansion is built on sand - literally. There are no proper foundations, he says, and if you dig down, you find river sand.

As a consequence, the centre of the house has slowly been sinking. One important element of the restoration, therefore, will be to underpin the house.

There will be much more to it than that, however.

The great kitchens are to be completely restored: one as a modern kitchen, the other as a working Georgian kitchen that visitors will be able to see.

For the first time, the Mansion House’s magnificent collection of gold and silver will go on public display. And there will be an oral history project to capture the memories of former Lord Mayors and of people who have worked at the house: butlers, cleaners and cooks among them.

Best of all, once it reopens, the Mansion House will be much more accessible. It will essentially be a living museum: still the home of the Lord Mayor but also, four days a week, open to paying visitors.

The house will become a centre for learning about civic democracy and the role and history of the Lord Mayors of York, says Mr Pollitt.

How appropriate (and exciting) in a city that was once the capital of the North.