HISTORY was quietly made at the Mansion House in York last Friday when a group of five people were given a guided tour of the Georgian building.

Such tours will now take place every week until Christmas, the first time the Mansion House has been regularly opened to the public.

It is a great chance for everybody to peep behind the imposing faade of the Lord Mayor's official residence. Before now it could only be seen as part of a pre-booked tour, or on open days.

Or you may be fortunate enough to attend an official reception. At Easter 1900 the Lord Mayor, Alderman Joseph Sykes Rymer, hosted delegates of the National Union of Teachers conference in the Mansion House. His lengthy address was felt so impressive it was turned into a pamphlet.

The building, he told the teachers, was built in 1725 (that was actually the start date: a Lord Mayor didn't live there until five years later and it wasn't completed until 1734).

"It possesses no great architectural features. It contains a large dining room, in which tonight you will find refreshments, a small robing room on the ground floor, and a State room on the first floor, with other necessary rooms," he said.

"In the dining room are the two swords and the mace, over the fireplace is a painting of the old Ouse Bridge as it was before the present one was built in 1810. There is also a portrait of Drake, the well-known historian of York, George Leeman and others."

Alderman Rymer went on to explain the significance of the sword and mace, before turning to a less celebrated item.

"Another curiosity of the Mansion House is a staff presented to the Lady Mayoress by the Sheriff on the occasion of her holding her first reception," he said. "The Sheriff has certain privileges on this occasion, which he does not always exercise.

"Of course," the Lord Mayor added, "in these modern days, you will well believe that its use for this purpose is not required." No doubt he exchanged a look with the Lady Mayoress at this point.

Not everyone would agree with Alderman Rymer that the Lord Mayor's home "possesses no great architectural features". While in no way original, the splendid frontage provides both a grand full stop to Coney Street and a suitably smart side to St Helen's Square.

But who should take the credit? Who was the architect of York's number one residence? The simple answer is we do not know.

Alderman Rymer told his teacher guests it was built "from the design of the Earl of Burlington". He definitely did design the 1730 Assembly Rooms - they were known as the Burlington Rooms.

But, in his essay The Mansion House Mystery, David Green is not so sure. "This does not however seem likely as Drake's book Eboracum is dedicated to Burlington, and in both the dedication and the note on the Mansion House, his name does not occur."

In the book Lords Of The City, Charles Kightly puts forward another name: York painter and designer William Etty. "Etty, who certainly worked on the Mansion House interior in 1729-30, had ample practical experience of large-scale building operations, having served as a clerk of works at Castle Howard under Sir John Vanbrugh and at Baldersby Park near Thirsk."

The name of the architect may have been lost or, as David Green believes, there never was one. "Possibly a design was chosen from a book, and the workmen were left to make the selected design fit into an opening between two rows of buildings," he wrote.

That may account for the chaotic nature of the building work.

The need for an official mayoral residence had been discussed in York for some years. Before the Mansion House, each Lord Mayor carried out his duties and entertained guests in his own home. This could include hosting the king.

"In those times the preparation of dishes and the roasting of venison and beef was carried out or supervised by the city cook, a permanent servant attached to the household of each successive mayor," writes David Green. "A portable apparatus was installed in open courts or suitable premises at the homes of Lord Mayors, and on occasions a tent was erected."

This was not a satisfactory situation. So when York town clerk Darcy Preston pointed out a home was needed for the official city records, which were often mislaid, it was decided to combine the need for a mayoral home with a repository for official documents.

The original budget of £1,000 was all but spent in the first year. Another £300 was found but worked soon slowed as workmen "clamoured for their pay". More money was found and in 1730, Alderman John Stainforth became the first Lord Mayor to live in the Mansion House.

Furnishing the residence took longer to complete. TP Cooper, in his 1931 guide to the Mansion House, relates how £12 was spent on table linen in 1731; £50 was spent on the garden in 1732; and Mr Seller was engaged to clean the candlesticks three times a year, for ten shillings, in 1734.

Then, a year later, an order went out "that the Lord Mayor get the City's Brewhouse repaired, and also the copper, and that my Lord Mayor be at liberty to have one or two coppers for brewing in if he thinks convenient".

And so the grand tradition of Mansion House entertaining began.

Guided tours of the Mansion House take place every Friday and Saturday from now until Christmas, starting at 11am and 2pm. Just turn up to take part. Tickets cost £6 for adults, or £4 for those with a York Card, pensioners and 10-15 year olds. A family ticket is £14. Every month, York Card holders get in free: the next time is August 6

Updated: 10:50 Monday, July 04, 2005