An absolute gem of a home, the Treasurer’s House is hidden away around the back of York Minster, just off Minster Yard.

The building standing here today was much the work of Frank Green, a wealthy Yorkshireman who purchased the house in 1897. The building has a much longer history though, as this house stands on the site of a mansion of the medieval Treasurers of York Minster. At the time of the Reformation in 1547 the office of Treasurer was abolished and as a result of later rebuilding the name is all that survives of the medieval building. The Young family bought the house in 1565 and rebuilt the main part of the house in the 17^th Century as well as creating the present gardens with its twin Dutch gables and classical central entrance.

Thomas Young sold the house during the Civil War in 1648 and passed through many hands, in the process it was sub divided up into smaller units and eventually started to fall into decay. It was Frank Green and his architect Temple Moore who restored the property to its original shape between 1897 and 1900. The rooms as you see them today were the work of Green, who continually changed the furniture as well as adding decorations and fittings to give each room character and style for that particular period.

It was on his retirement in 1930 that he gave the Treasurer’s house and all its contents to the National Trust.