The Sainsbury Wing of the National Gallery is 20 years old this year. This elegant, spacious gallery is featured on our mp3 London tour ouriPod tour of London’s Westminster and West End.  Anyone thinking about a vacation in London will find the National Gallery and its extension high on their list of places to visit.

  In March 1985, as a gift to the nation, three brothers – John, Simon and Timothy Sainsbury offered to commission a new building on the vacant site to the west of the National Gallery.   Being in the centre of London, the site has a long history. 

  In the 16th century it site was adjoined to the Royal Mews and Coach Houses. During the 19th century shops started to appear. On the night of 16th November 1940, incendiary bombs destroyed many of the shops and the ruins were demolished after the Second World War. The site remained vacant and for several years and served as a car park. In 1959 the site was acquired by the Government for an extension to the National Gallery.

  In December 1981, the Secretary of State for the Environment, Michael Heseltine, announced a competition for the site. The brief for the entrants took two forms. In architectural terms the brief was basic, suggesting that the new building must relate in height, scale and finished to its neighbours.

  At the end of 1984 the Board of Trustees decided to examine ways to find a private sponsorship for the new building. In April 1985 an outstanding act of philanthropy came to the Gallery’s aid. The Sainsbury brothers – John, Simon and Timothy – made one of the most generous gifts that the Gallery has ever received – they offered to fund the entire extension for the exclusive use of the Gallery. The Trustees gratefully accepted the offer and launched a worldwide search for a new architect to design the extension. After careful consideration, it was announced in January 1986 that Robert Venturi of the firm Venturi, Rauch & Scott Brown had been selected from a shortlist.

  The new design was unveiled to the public in April 1987 and work on the new wing started in 1988. Externally the extension complemented the existing buildings in Trafalgar Square, while internally it provided the Gallery with a suite of 16 new rooms for the display of the collection as well as a new bookshop, lecture theatre, seminar rooms, restaurant and temporary exhibition galleries. Named in honour of its donors, the Sainsbury Wing was opened by HM The Queen Elizabeth 9 July 1991.

www.nationalgallery.org.uk