Merchant Adventurer's Hall, York, North Yorkshire, England

When I first glimpsed its name on sign, my first impressions were not in keeping with the antiquity of the place. For whatever, the mention of the word "adventure" in the title had me thinking of some outdoor pursuits initiative. Those thoughts could not be further removed from the fact that this is the largest timber-framed building in York and plays host to a guild of traders that used to closely control its trade with the outside world. What you see above is part of the shaded southern side as seen on a sunny evening in August.

The building has its origins in the fourteenth century when the Merchant Adventurer's Guild was a purely religious organisation and there still is a chapel there to this day. Business later took over and there have been additions since then; it has a Great Hall that is very Elizabethan in character. Meetings of the Guild continue to happen there today when members wear robes and an eighteenth century mace is carried before the Master.