Auckland Art Gallery showing it's age

By BERNARD ORSMAN

The Auckland Art Gallery is planning a $20 million redevelopment of its galleries, including structural strengthening of its historic clock tower.

It is 31 years since the last major facelift for the country's premier art gallery, when the modernist Edmiston Wing was added to the French-style colonial building.

Gallery director Chris Saines said cosmetic work laying new floors and recladding the walls had been done in the past few years at a cost of $435,000, but this did not address the bigger issues of gallery space, storage and structural needs of the original 1887 building.

A three-yearly survey on the condition of the building has found "major structural issues" with the foundations and the clock tower. A seismic survey is being carried out.

Mr Saines said it was timely for the art gallery to refresh and upgrade its facilities, to show more works from its collection of 12,500 paintings, sculptures and other artworks and create a better environment for visitors. Behind-the-scenes services also needed improvement.

Extra escalators would help because many first-time visitors did not realise the gallery had two floors.

The Auckland Museum also has ambitious plans for the final stage of its redevelopment, at a cost of $46.5 million.

The museum is seeking three annual payments of $15.5 million from the Government, and local councils have agreed to pay an extra $3 million a year in operating and depreciation costs.

Auckland's territorial authorities already spend $18 million a year on the museum, art gallery, Museum of Transport and Technology and the National Maritime Museum.

Mr Saines said the $20 million cost of the art gallery redevelopment was an estimate only and would be refined as more work was done on the proposal. Building was not expected to start for at last three years.

The gallery hopes that its owner, the Auckland City Council, will pay for half the work.

Other sources of finance include the regional museums fund, ASB Trusts and the Lottery Grants Board.

The Art Gallery Enterprise Board chairman, city councillor William Cairns, said the gallery was a core council business and he was in favour of the council's contributing to the redevelopment.

Mr Cairns suggested funding could come from savings made by cost-cutting in other council areas or the sale of the council's airport shares.