WE have dipped into new book The Streets of York: Four Centuries of Change a few times in recent weeks. No apologies for doing so again. The book's combination of old paintings and old and modern photographs provides some wonderful 'then and now' portraits of many of York's best-known and best-loved streets.

There's all the more reason for revisiting the book this week, however, because on Wednesday the exhibition of the same name officially opens to members of the public at the Maclagan Hall at St Williams College.

In the circumstances, it seems natural to focus on the book's chapter on College Street this week. It includes a lovely watercolour of the street by Charles Rousse painted before the St Williams College was restored by Temple Moore in 1906.

Originally built in about 1465 to provide accommodation for priests, by Victorian times the college had been divided up into small tenements and shops. You get a sense of that in Rousse's watercolour: the woman with a basket under her arm to the right of the painting looks like someone who could well have lived here: and the old man with his walking stick and the girl with her hoop give a very domestic feeling to the scene.

The college was bought in about 1900 by Frank Green, who owned the nearby Treasurer's House, and in 1902 he sold it to the church authorities as a meeting place for the Convocation of the Province of York. Temple Moore's extensive restoration followed. A 1920 photograph shows the college post-restoration, with its timbers exposed, while a modern photograph shows it today.

Turning to face the other way down College Street, in 1896 William J Boddy painted a watercolour looking towards Goodramgate from St Williams College. The painting - and a photograph of almost the same date, which shows many of the same features - depicts College Street before many of the buildings on the right had been demolished to allow for the creation of Deangate. Instead, there was simply a narrow, tunnel like entrance leading from College Street out onto Goodramgate and vice versa. John D Walker's 1890 watercolour shows what this looked like from the Goodramgate side. Today, College Street looking south towards Goodramgate is much more open, as Chris Shepherd's modern photograph shows.

BUY THE BOOK/ SEE THE EXHIBITION

The Streets of York: Four Centuries of Change by Darrell Buttery, Ron Cooke, Stephen Lewis and Chris Shepherd is published in hardback by York Publishing Services, priced £30. An exhibition based on the book opens on Wednesday (October 31) at the Maclagan Hall in St Williams College. Public admission will be every weekday afternoon from 2.30pm to 4.30pm, entry £12 on the door. The book is available from Fairfax House, the Minster bookshop, York Against Cancer shops and The Press offices in Walmgate. Please note: if planning to buy from The Press, only cash or cheques (payable to York Publishing Services Ltd) can be accepted. The book is also available direct from York Publishing Services on 01904 431213 or from YPDbooks.com for £30 plus £3.60 p&p, or can be bought at the special discount price of £20 by anyone visiting the exhibition.

All proceeds from both the book and exhibition will be shared between York Against Cancer, York Civic Trust and the York Minster Fund.

Stephen Lewis, one of the authors of the book, also writes the Yesterday Once More column for The Press.