Remodeled Sainsbury Wing of National Gallery in London
Annabelle Selldorf- Type Refurbishment
- Date 2025
- City London
- Country United Kingdom
- Photograph Edmund Sumner
The National Gallery in London reopens the Sainsbury Wing to the public in 10 May, after a revamp led by the New York firm of Annabelle Selldorf, in collaboration with Purcell, a British collective of heritage experts. The project was part of NG200, an £85 million program launched to celebrate the bicentennial of the museum founded in 1824.
Originally designed by the American architects Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown, the Sainsbury Wing opened in 1991 amid harsh criticism. Though intended as an extension to the National Gallery0s Wilkins building, in 2017 it became the main entrance for visitors. The following year the wing was classified as Grade I, the highest listing for buildings of architectural or historic interest with legal protection. It is one of the youngest ever to receive this classification.
The renovation scheme drawn up by Selldorf Architects – among whose other museum projects is the recent expansion of the Frick Collection in New York – was much criticized when unveiled in 2022, and among the opponents was Denise Scott Brown herself. All the controversy led to the modification of the project.
During the construction works, as some of the foyer’s columns were being removed, a hidden letter dated July 1990 was found, slipped into one of the pillars. Signed by Lord Sainsbury, one of the institution’s major donors, it expressed his firm opposition to the false columns of Venturi and Scott Brown’s design, which served no structural purpose.
The intervention of Selldorf Architects included opening up the ground level by suppressing non-loadbearing supports, reducing the floor above it to a curved mezzanine, and replacing dark glazing with transparent panes. These alterations let more daylight in and improve visibility from and towards Trafalgar Square. The ground floor now features a café, a store, and an information counter. In the basement, the auditorium has been modernized, with new upholstered seats and a more spacious entrance hall. Materials like gray Florentine limestone _(pietra serena)_ have the effect of aesthetically unifying the floor levels.
