YORK MINSTER, W. PORCH

York Minster the Western Porch. This is a view of the main entrance to York Minster. This card was published by Photochrom Co., Ltd., London and Turnbridge Wells, England. They became a major publisher and printer of tourist albums, guide books, and postcards that mostly captured worldwide views as real photos or were printed in black & white, monochrome, and colour.
http://www.metropostcard.com/publishersp1.html

In my research of the the York cards I have been struck by the similarity of the cards collected in York to the photos contained in a THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF YORK by A. CLUTTON-BROCK published in London by George Bell and Sons in 1899.

Clutton-Brock describes the West Porch as : "The main entrance, though small, is extraordinarily beautiful in the geometrical Decorated style. It consists of a single arch, divided into two smaller cusped arches by a central pillar with a circular opening above it, glazed and filled with six divisions of cusped tracery.

Above the main arch is a gable, in which are five niches, the central one containing the figure of an archbishop.

It is uncertain whether this is Archbishop John Romeyn, who began the nave, or Archbishop Melton, who finished the west front and glazed the central window.

On either side of the gable are statues of the Percy and Vavasour, who gave the wood and stone necessary for the building of the nave.

These statues, and the greater, part of the porch, have been restored. But even after restoration the fine proportions and delicate workmanship of the porch are evident.

The slender shafts supporting the arches are well grouped and contrasted. The capitals, though characteristically small, are most delicate, and the mouldings are admirably varied with foliage, figures, canopies, and brackets for statues, formal decoration, and courses of plain stone.

These mouldings contain the history of Adam and Eve. Even the porches at Sienna (sic) and Orvieto, though made of far more costly materials, can hardly be more beautiful than was this porch at the time of its completion."