Mansion House, York site of the old "Common Hall Gates" which provided an entrance to the Guildhall. A chapel and other property and tenements which were once owned by the Guild of St. Christopher and St. George including the Cross Keys Public House also lay on this site. These buildings were demolished to build the current Mansion House in 1724. The fifteenth century York Guildhall is situated behind the Mansion House, where the medieval city council held their meetings. In May of each year the Mayor Making ceremony is still held in the Guildhall before the Lord Mayor takes up residence in the
São Bento Mansion regime expropriates the mansion so that it would become the official residence of the President of the Council of Ministers (then the official title of the Prime Minister). After the necessary fitting-out works, António de Oliveira Salazar moves to the mansion in May 1938, even though the formal unveiling only takes place eleven months later, in April 1939. During the works, a monumental staircase connecting the grounds of the mansion to the Parliament gardens was commissioned to architect Cristino da Silva. When Marcelo Caetano became Prime Minister in 1968, the mansion saw major renovations: little more than the façades were