Complexity and Contradiction: The architectural history of the Gallery 1824-1991

Helpful online lecture from the National Gallery looking at the architectural phases of the gallery.

Ralph St Clare-Wade from the University of Cambridge marked the upcoming 200th anniversary of the gallery with this talk which clearly laid out the different phases of its development from it’s start in a house in Pall Mall to the opening of the Sainsbury Wing.

Despite visiting at least once a month I had never really thought about how the building grew and the different architects involved. I was particularly intrigued at how the original site was dictated by the presence of a workhouse and barracks behind it and how it was able to expand as both of those were no longer needed.

It will certainly make me look at it in a different way in the future.

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