The York Mansion House is again fit for a Lord Mayor.
But it’s not only our civic leaders who can luxuriate inside the restored Georgian townhouse. The building is now open to the general public.
York residents can tour the new-look Mansion House for free this weekend as part of the York Residents Festival.
After that there will be an admission fee to tour the building, which will be open five days a week.
Interactive activities
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We’ve already seen the difference made to the exterior of the Mansion House thanks to the £2.6 million investment.
St Helen’s Square, York
Open Wed-Sun 10.30am-5pm
Adults £6.50, children £3.50. concs £5, family £17
But there’s a lot changed inside too.
A princely sum of money was spent on shoring up the dodgy state room ceiling with 12 massive steel girders.
Elsewhere there are new interactive activities.
In the completely restored basement kitchen you can cook a feast along with food historian Dr Annie Gray.
Using XBox technology, visitors can slice virtual beef and crack eggs on the large kitchen table.
In the dining room, the table is set out as for the Lord Mayor’s banquet on February 3, 1785.
And you can see the mayoral mace and chains, and watch them being worn at various civic ceremonies on old video footage.
Dazzling bling
Upstairs in the silver galleries is an incredible collection of civic bling.
Mansion House curator Richard Pollitt said: “Unbeknown to most York residents, we have in the Mansion House probably one of the largest collections of civic gold and silver outside London.
“For generations it was locked away. So part of the project was to get this out, display it, so people can enjoy their heritage.”