Summary
Fairfax House is a delightful Georgian townhouse, built in the 1740s, and acquired in 1759 by Viscount Fairfax as a gift for his daughter Anne. The house was only in the Fairfax family for eleven years, before passing on to a variety of private and business owners until it was acquired by the York Civic Trust.
The Trust has restored the house to the original roccocco style it enjoyed during the Fairfax tenure, and included fine furniture from the collection of Noel Terry.
The most striking feature of Fairfax House is the extraordinary stucco ceilings by Benjamin Cortese. These ceilings depict religious allegories and likenesses of literary giants.
The furniture is superb, though only one four-poster bed is original to the house; a variety of Chippendale chairs and porcelain is complemented by a collection of watches, clocks, and barometers.
The house features a wide variety of paintings ranging from the 16th to the 19th century, and regular special exhibits on the decorative arts.
Fairfax House Virtual Tour:
