The classically elegant Art Gallery of New South Wales is one of Sydney's most distinctive landmarks. The façade and old wing of the Gallery were built between 1896 and 1909. Architecturally, Sydney's Art Gallery reflects nineteenth century ideas about the cultural role of a gallery as a temple to art and civilizing values. Yet early designs for the Gallery were less confident about the institution's role and image. The present building is the work of Government Architect Walter Liberty Vernon, who secured the prestigious commission over the less conventional architect John Horbury Hunt. The history of the building of Sydney's Gallery reads like a sensational novel. All the elements - intrigue, personal animosity and nepotism - are present. That the institution acquired such a fine historic building is almost fortuitous.

John Horbury Hunt design for the Art Gallery of New South Wales, 1884.
Hunt was the architect initially asked to design the Gallery when a decision was made to move from the temporary building in the Botanic Gardens to a new building on the present site. This is his first design. It was not popular as it was considered too grandiose and eclectic in style.

The first home for Sydney's art collection was at Clark's Assembly Hall in Elizabeth Street. This building, which had at one time been used for dancing classes, was rented between 1875 and 1879. It was open to the public on Friday and Saturday afternoons. The International Exhibition of 1879 provided an opportunity for the national collection to be re-housed more suitably. Space was initially allocated in the main hall of the Garden Palace, but as lighting and display possibilities were not considered adequate, the Government allowed William Wardell to construct a 'Fine Arts Annexe' of nine rooms near the entrance to the Botanic Gardens. Concerns for safety and conservation of works, as well as the fire which destroyed the Garden Palace in 1882, ruled out the Annexe as a permanent home for the collection. In December 1885 the collections were moved to a building of six rooms at the present site in the Domain. John Horbury Hunt, an architect in private practice, was contracted to submit plans for a gallery in preference to the Government's James Barnet. Some of the Trustees were suspicious of Barnet after his controversial work on the General Post Office. Intended to be the foundation of a more substantial building when funds became available, Hunt's temporary building, which was nothing more than a series of thick walls with a sawtooth roof, was universally disliked. It was denounced in the press by prominent citizens as the 'Art Barn.' Economic depression, politics and personality clashes eventually robbed Hunt of the opportunity to design the gallery.

Three designs by John Hobury Hunt for the Art Gallery, 1890-1895
In 1889 the Trustees authorized Hunt to complete a set of plans for the Art Gallery, the total cost of the building “not exceeding £80,000.” The Trustees proved difficult to accommodate and Hunt eventually submitted three separate sets of plans to them. His first design was for a brick building with Tuscan columns and a highly decorated frieze. The last, in 1895, was for a heavy Gothic structure with a blind arcade of pointed arches winding around it. The Trustees argued that none of these plans could be carried out with the funds at their disposal. They believed Hunt’s plans covered a much larger area than required and that a Classic Ionic structure would be more appropriate than Hunt’s hybrid forms.

Ten years after plans were first drawn up, the task was entrusted to Walter Vernon. The building he designed was in many ways a departure from the style he was pursuing at the time. He had turned away from a grand classical style, erecting more modest buildings in brick with stone dressing. Vernon believed that the Gothic style admitted greater individuality and richness 'not obtainable in the colder and unbending lines of Pagan Classic.' Yet the Trustees would have none of this. They demanded a classical temple to art, not unlike William Playfair's fine gallery in Edinburgh. The Gallery's present form is a little more austere and undecorated than Vernon had originally intended. His designs show provision for extensive sculptural ornamentation of the façade.

Walter Vernon design for elevation of the Gallery towards the Harbour, 1896.
This section of the Gallery was not completed. After 1909 nothing more was built of Vernon’s designs. The ground plan remained incomplete, as no northern gallery was built to correspond with the southern watercolour gallery. In the 1930s plans were suggested for the completion of this part of the Gallery but the Depression and other financial constraints lead to their abandonment. In 1968 the New South Wales Government decided that the completion of the Gallery would be a major part of the Captain Cook Bicentenary celebrations. Andrew Anderson was the Architect entrusted with the new building, which opened to the public in November 1970.

Vernon's building was built in four stages. Present day courts 7 and 8 were commenced in 1896 and opened in May 1897. They are distinguished from later courts by the yellower timber of their parquetry floors. By 1901 the entire southern half of the building was finished. A newspaper article at the time noted 'Only one wing of the building, about one fourth of the whole structure, is at present completed, and gives rich promise of future beauty. The style is early Greek. The façade is built of thracyte and freestone. The interior is divided into four halls, each 100 feet by 30 feet, communicating with each other by pillared archways. The lighting is almost perfect, designs for the roof having been furnished by London correspondents after careful study of all the latest improvements in European galleries. The walls are coloured a chill neutral green shade, which makes an excellent background.'

James Barnet's design for a joint Art Gallery, Library and Museum, 1874.

James Barnet was Colonial Architect from 1862 to 1890. The Australian Museum, his first major project, was opened in 1868. He intended it to be the wing of a much larger building which would incorporate a museum, library and art gallery, as this design shows. The present Australian Museum forms the right hand wing of this design. Unlike Melbourne, the proposal for a combined museum, library and art gallery was not accepted in Sydney. The Trustees’ decision to employ John Horbury Hunt, an architect in private practice, lead to considerable controversy in Parliament and in the Press.

In 1902 Vernon presented an eight page presentation album to the Trustees illustrating his proposed designs for a completed Gallery. It included two designs for an imposing Central Court. Vernon proposed that his oval lobby, opened in 1902 and considered his masterpiece, would lead into an equally imposing Central Court. His plans were not accepted. Until 1969 his lobby lead, by a short descent from the entrance level, to three northern galleries originally designed by Hunt. In 1909 the front of the Gallery was finished and after this date nothing more was built of Vernon's designs. In the 1930s plans were suggested for the completion of this part of the Gallery but the Depression and other financial constraints lead to their abandonment.

Two designs by Walter Vernon for the Central Court of the Art Gallery, 1902.
In 1902 Vernon presented an eight page presentation album to the Trustees illustrating his proposed designs for a completed Gallery. It included these two designs for an imposing Central Court. Vernon proposed that his oval lobby, opened on 24th March 1902 and considered his masterpiece, would lead into an equally imposing Central Court. His plans were not accepted and up until 1969 the lobby lead, by a short descent from the entrance level, to three northern galleries originally designed by Hunt.

In 1968 the New South Wales Government decided that the completion of the Gallery would be a major part of the Captain Cook Bicentenary celebrations. This extension, which was opened to the public in November 1970, and those made to the east of the existing structure as part of the National Bicentenary in 1988, were both the responsibility of Government architect Andrew Anderson. The 1988 eastern extension doubled the size of the Gallery. It provided expanded display space for the permanent collections and temporary exhibitions, a new gallery for Asian art and an outdoor sculpture garden. In 1994 the Yiribana gallery, a space devoted to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art and culture, was opened.

View of the Art Gallery towards the Harbour, 1967.
This photograph shows Hunt’s temporary brick building of 1884 grafted on to Vernon's imposing sandstone building, which was completed in 1909.

View of the Art Gallery towards the Harbour, 1970.

This photograph shows Andrew Anderson’s 1968-1970 addition to the Art Gallery.

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