6-612: The York Assembly Rooms is an 18th-century assembly rooms building in York , England , originally used as a place for high class social gatherings in the city. The building is situated on Blake Street and is a Grade I listed building . Designed by Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington it is one of the earliest Palladian buildings in Northern England and possibly the earliest neoclassical building in Europe. Construction began in 1730 and
12-511: A thousand people for events such as masquerade balls (masked balls), assembly balls ( conventional balls ), public concerts and assemblies (simply gatherings for conversation, perhaps with incidental music and entertainments) or Salons . By later standards these were formal events: the attendees were usually screened to make sure no one of insufficient rank gained admittance; admission might be subscription only; and unmarried women were chaperoned . Nonetheless, assemblies played an important part in
18-649: The 18th and 19th centuries, assembly rooms were gathering places for members of the higher social classes open to members of both sexes. At that time most entertaining was done at home and there were few public places of entertainment open to both sexes besides theatres (and there were few of those outside London). Upper class men had more options, including coffee houses and later gentlemen's clubs . Major sets of assembly rooms in London, in spa towns such as Bath , and in important provincial cities such as York , were able to accommodate hundreds, or in some cases over
24-508: The building and made further alterations in 1939 through 1951. The York Conservation Trust purchased the Assembly Rooms in 2002 and are responsible for the building's maintenance. It currently operates as an Ask Italian but is open for public viewing. This article about a North Yorkshire building or structure is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Assembly rooms In Great Britain and Ireland , especially in
30-531: The marriage market of the day. A major set of assembly rooms consisted of a main room and several smaller subsidiary rooms such as card rooms, tea rooms and supper rooms. On the other hand, in smaller towns a single large room attached to the best inn might serve for the occasional assembly for the local landed gentry . By the 1900s, people became more accepting of women entering public places, and new venues for entertainment arose, such as public dance halls and nightclubs. Also to some extent they were supplanted by
36-468: Was completed in 1735, but it was used beginning in 1732. After a fire in 1773, alterations were made to the Lesser Assembly Room to the designs of Sir John O'Corall. The front steps of the portico were later replaced by an internal set in 1791. Lord Burlington's original front facade was replaced in 1828 by a Greek Revival portico designed by J. P. Pritchett . In 1925, York Corporation purchased
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