Art Gallery of New South Wales - Building

Building

Although the majority of Vernon's buildings are in the Arts and Crafts style, the 1897 building was built in a conservative classical tradition. The facade has a central block with extending wings each terminating in a bow-fronted colonnaded pavilion. The central block is marked by a Neo-Classical portico with six columns of the Ionic order, the penultimate example of the neo-Greek temple as a portico for a major public institution in Sydney, the last being Vernon's building of similar design for the nearby State Library of New South Wales. It was built of Sydney sandstone (yellowblock) from the Saunders quarries at Pyrmont.

The windowless wings and end pavilions are emblazoned along the cornice with the names of old master painters and sculptors. In a series of panels beneath, are an incomplete set of bronze relief sculptures by a range of different sculptors and symbolising the contribution to art by ancient civilisations. Those complete show significant scenes in the art history of Rome, Greece, Assyria and Egypt.

The portico leads into a vestibule designed by James Barnet, and reportedly "derived from Raphael's Villa Madama in Rome (c. 1520). The design and detailing of the cornices and arches of the foyer are described as" especially fine and unusual". The foyer is illuminated by a leadlight dome, and has niches in the walls containing a collection of sculptured busts.

The older rooms of the gallery extend to the right of the foyer, and have been maintained in late-19th century style, to display the gallery's collection of early European, 19th century and Australian Impressionist works. The later extensions to the building are on five levels and contain a central long gallery giving access to other parts of the building, multi-purpose and specialised exhibition spaces, services such as lifts and escalators, restaurants, shops, terraces, a sculpture garden and windows with extended views of the harbour.