Former house, years old, with a couple of Kings (4)

I believe the answer is:

york

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'former house' is the definition.
'york' can be an answer for 'house' (I've seen this before). I am not sure about the 'former' bit.

'years old with a couple of kings' is the wordplay.
'a couple of kings' can mean two substitutions for 'king'.
'years' becomes 'y' (abbreviation).
'old' becomes 'o' (abbreviation).
'with' says to put letters next to each other.
'king' becomes 'R' (abbreviation of Latin rex).
'king' becomes 'K' (abbreviation for king in chess).
'y'+'o'+'r'+'k'='YORK'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for york that I've seen before include "Royal house in the Wars of the Roses" , "City on the Ouse" , "10 [HOUSE]" , "Modern Eboracum" , "fifteenth century house" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.

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