From the An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in City of York, Volume 5, Central
The Black Swan Inn, No. 44, was among the most important inns and coaching houses in York in the 18th century. It occupied a deep site some 60 ft. wide by 208 ft. deep, with the main building fronting the street and with a yard behind, which in 1850 was entirely surrounded by buildings. At that time the inn also included a building to the S.E. on the site of the Yorkshire Bank built in 1923.
The inn itself was a 17th-century structure, wholly refronted and partly rebuilt in 1790 when Mr. Ambrose Batty, the licensee, was paid £90 by the Corporation as a consideration ‘for taking down and rebuilding in an upright line’ the S. part. At this time a full fourth storey replaced earlier attics.
By 1955 the buildings round the further part of the yard had disappeared; those that remained were mainly 19th century. The whole was then demolished.
The front surviving in 1955 was of four storeys faced with good red brick, built in two matching halves, each three windows wide, separated by a straight joint. It was a plain front with hung-sash windows and a timber cornice at the eaves. A door-case to the entrance, comprising timber Doric pilasters and entablature, has been re-erected at the Castle Museum. The back had been largely rebuilt in the 18th century but some 17th-century brick walling remained. The ground floor had been converted to shops. Some 18th-century fittings remained in the upper part. Demolished.
1810 Black swan James barber;
1823 Black Swan, (Clarke’s Hotel & posting house,) James Barber,
1829 Black Swan, Judd & Fiddes
1851 Robert Parsons Surgeon Dentist
1798 Universal British Directory Vol. IV York library
Penrose John, Black Swan Hotel
1861 Mosely Sineon, surgeon dentist
1876 Black Swan Hotel-manageress, Mrs E. L. Beck
1885 Gray & Sons, pianoforte and American organ manufactory
1886 Gray & Sons, pianoforte and Americian organ manufactory
1889 Crouch, H. M. shirtmaker and clerical outfitter
1893 Crouch Herbert Morris, hosier & shirt maker &c
1895 Anderson & Sons, hatters & hosiers
1898 Anderson, R W. & Sons, hosiers, &c.
1900 Anderson, R. W. & Sons, hosiers
1902 Anderson, R. W. & Sons, hosiers
1905 Anderson Robert William & Sons, hosiers &c
1913 Anderson Robert William & Sons, hosiers &c
1921 Anderson Robert William & Sons, hosiers &c
1929 Anderson Robert William & Sons, hosiers &c