If it were mine, I’d have it taken down and the stump removed. To me, yews are dull, boring and usually overgrown.

I’d put in a flowering something instead. I’m not sure where you live or the sun exposure in this spot so I can’t recommend anything.

Looks quite nice from the front. And off the corner of a building is a perfect spot for a nice bushy evergreen like this. Whereas a flowering shrub would not be well placed there unless also dense and evergreen itself.

Safe haven for birds and a great nesting site as well. Add to that the fact it isn’t attacking the house and it seems to fit. A pic or two including the house might help to see how it relates to the whole. As for the bare inside, that’s just how yews grow.

tj

Also probably one of the most amenable shrubs to pruning there is! Can be cut back as hard as you like if you like. Or just shaped or groomed. However, light trimming of the outer growth generally stimulates fuller, denser new growth so any size reduction is temporary :-) If you want smaller, then get serious and go for it!

the insides of most conifers.. with thick canopy are nudey inside .. as the canopy expands.. no more light gets inside to support green growth .... so that is normal .. most of them will not releaf inside of you open holes ... yews might.. but it will take years to fill in the gaps ... per below ...

agree pix of the whole side of the house will help define where you may go ..

i know your name gives us a clue you are in IL ... but have you ever told us where you are? ... big city name ...

how fast something grows back might be defined by such ... e.g. the near year around growth rate in the PNW fo gal ... or my ground freeze MI .. where growth might only be 5 months of the year ...

and then there is the suggestions that this type of renovation project might be ugly for a few years while it tries to fill back in.. and are you sure you want to do that out front of your new house ...

of course.. there is the option of cutting it way back.. and then changing your mind next year.. and deciding to finish the job with removal ...

ken

Here is a picture of it with part of the house included. I am in North West Illinois, near the Quad cities

Again if you cut it off and dig it out you won't have anything solid looking in that view to go with the house.

In the olden days, Yew was used in archery.

Shoot!

How about a compromise, especially since you’ve just moved in & haven’t seen what your new landscape looks like in spring & summer yet? As @gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9) said, Yews are very amenable to pruning & I believe are one of few needle type plants that will sprout regrowth on old wood. As the compromise, I’d suggest major trim job now - you can always remove later but once out, it’s gone. I’d start with top trimming - not a flat top - but grab tallest branches & cut those way down to thin out top & let some light into center. From looks of size & slope, this isn’t a one person job - need someone to spot you & hold ladder steady. Do the same all around the plant making sure to evenly balance the shrub. It looks like it’s encroaching on entry stairs so that might guide how much needs to come off. I think doing this will buy you some time to decide if it needs to come out or determine if this was your first step in rejuvenation pruning to make it a pleasing size & shape & a nice evergreen balance to that side of house as @Embothrium pointed out as a good thing to have. I am just elaborating on what @ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5 suggested you do.

As for me, I’d let it be. Its not often you see a yew set free and I’m sure a new to you home has other things to concentrate on.

tj

Late spring-early summer optimum time for maintenance pruning (as in size control) of conifers.

I'd cut it down and plant something more interesting.

Always time for that drastic step of cutting down after you learn what else your spring & summer yard has to offer up! I still opt for baby steps As no going back once cut.

Let's see, the one asset on this side of the house and the knee jerk advice is to hack back or remove the yew. Another odd bit of advice on the other thread is to plant hosta. Seems strange, for all we know there may already be a whole bed of hosta there. With hosta you basically have NOTHING for 7 months of the year.

Subjective. In his other post he mentioned he’s glad it is blocking the view of the north side of the house.

tj

Of course I had no idea OP had shown what’s behind this yew in another post. Nothing! That’s what’s behind it! Because @sam_md comment made zero sense to me based on this thread, & after seeing @tsugajunkie z5 SE WI ♱ comments, I looked for @Illini Fan other post. Forget everything I suggested doing with this Yew in my first post in this thread.. Give it a trim to shape it up & slim it down a bit to look cared for. Make thinning cuts so it will fill in its center a bit. Then leave it alone. It looks like it’s holding your whole dang hillside in.

Now that you mention it, where IS yardvaark? I miss him/her.

I am in the midst of the same dilemma - 2 overgrow yews that hide the outdoor AC unit.

After a bit of research it seems that you can hard prune a yew and in about 2 years it will be full and bushy again. As others have mentioned, this is not true of other conifers.

I hate the idea of 2 years before they look good again, but if I pull them out I will be waiting 3 + years for new plants to reach a mature size, so it really isn't that big of a deal. Patience is a part of gardening.

The property I purchased had tons of overgrown gardens - took me 2 years to de-landscape. Many of the bushes and plants needed to be removed, but everything you remove needs to be replaced with something and buying new costs money.

I am choosing to hard prune to about 1' smaller than I want it to be in both height and width. After 2 years of letting it rejuvenate I will keep it pruned to the size I want to maintain.