NATIONAL GALLERY
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- I
- List Entry Number:
- 1066236
- Date first listed:
- 05-Feb-1970
- Statutory Address:
- NATIONAL GALLERY, TRAFALGAR SQUARE WC2
Map
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Location
- Statutory Address:
- NATIONAL GALLERY, TRAFALGAR SQUARE WC2
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Greater London Authority
- District:
- City of Westminster (London Borough)
- National Grid Reference:
- TQ 29961 80544
Details
TQ 2980 NE and 3080 NW CITY OF WESTMINSTER TRAFALGAR SQUARE, WC2
71/106; 72/134
5.2.70 National Gallery
G.V. I
Picture Gallery. 1832-38 by William Wilkins, built to "command" the north side
of new square and house the Angerstein Collection, purchased by the government
at the instance of George IV, as well as, originally, to accommodate the Royal
Academy. Portland stone, concealed glazed gallery roofs. Fine, scholarly,
Graeco-Roman classicism that reads well in perspective but is weak as a frontal
composition with too even a balance in the accents that attempt to vary this
long elevation. 2 storeys on plinth. 32 windows wide with central octastyle
pedimented portico with secondary tetrastyle portico entrances and terminal
pavilions. The central Corinthian portico is effectively raised on podium wall
with flanking steps. Set back behind portico pediment is a stone cupolaed dome
on stone drum. The centrepiece of the main portico is flanked by 2 giant
pilastered bays before breaking back to the main wall plane of the wings.
Architraved sash windows with cornices on ground floor, blind on 1st floor. The
secondary Corinthian tetrastyle porticoes have parapets raised over central
bay. The terminal pavilions have pairs of flanking giant pilasters and are
surmounted by small octagonal stone cupolas with pierced work openings. 1st
floor sill band; main entablature with dentil cornice and crowning balustraded
parapet. The columns from Holland's demolished Carlton House were intended for
the portico but in the end only bases and reworked capitals from Carlton House
were reused for the secondary porticoes in the wings. On east facade frontal is
a seated statue of Minerva by Flaxman made as a Britannia for Marble Arch.
Existing interiors principally by E. M. Barry, 1867-76, vestibule and central
hall by Sir J. Taylor, 1885-87. The National Gallery site had already been
proposed for this purpose in Nash's Metropolitan Improvements as of course the
overall plan of the square.
Survey of London. Vol XX.
Georgian London;John Summerson.
Listing NGR: TQ2996180544
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 207259
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Summerson, J, Georgian London, (1945)
'Survey of London' in Trafalgar Square and neighbourhood The Parish of St Martin-in-the-Fields Part 3: Volume 20 , , Vol. 20, (1979)
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
End of official listing
Images of England
Images of England was a photographic record of every listed building in England, created as a snap shot of listed buildings at the turn of the millennium. These photographs of the exterior of listed buildings were taken by volunteers between 1999 and 2008. The project was supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.