City Art Gallery

City Art Gallery

Art gallery built in 1878–79 and restored and extended in 1952, designed by Edward Taylor for the Yorkshire Fine Arts and Industrial Institution.

The principal front, facing Exhibition Square, is constructed of sandstone ashlar and features a striking two-storey composition with five bays flanked by two-storey pavilion blocks. A projecting one-storey loggia runs across the front with five bays, articulated by keyed round arches carried on Composite columns. The spandrels contain portrait medallions, and the arches are crowned with garlanded urn terminals. Within the loggia are three pairs of glazed and panelled doors, each with a semicircular fanlight.

On the first floor of the main front, the bays are arcaded between pilasters. The three central bays project forward between coupled pilasters and carry pediments. Each bay is articulated by a keyed round arch enclosing a blank sunk panel in a moulded surround. The end blocks are treated as single bays with half bays on either side: the ground floor has paired Composite columns beneath a modillion cornice and balustraded parapet; the first floor uses pilasters carrying segmental pediments. Both ground-floor pavilion blocks contain glazed and panelled double doors in round-arched architraves with garlanded keyblocks, while the half bays display carved panels with stylised flowers and foliage in relief.

The first floor centre bay displays glazed tile panels with figural scenes: the Death of Leonardo on the left and Michelangelo showing his statue of Moses on the right. The flanking half bays contain shallow round-arched niches beneath keyed oculi. A moulded and modillioned cornice extends across the entire front, beneath a parapet balustraded on each side of the pediment and rising to voluted attics over the pavilion bays.

The left and right returns of the front block are two storeys high and three bays wide. The ground floor has three round-arched cross windows with stone sills; on the right return, one window has been altered to glazed double doors. The first floor is subdivided into five unequal bays by pilasters raised on a podium, which is pierced by three ornate cast-iron ventilator grilles. Moulded imposts extend across the flanking bays. The centre bay contains a blank sunk panel in a keyed round arch, while the flanking half bays have keyed oculi and the outer bays have round-arched niches matching those on the main front. The cornice returns from the main front beneath a balustraded parapet rising to an attic over the centre bay.

On the left side, a one-storey nine-bay range extends at the rear of the front block, with a blind round-arched window and stone sill to each bay. On the right side, the rear range is two storeys, though the ground floor is largely obscured by later buildings; the first floor openings are blind. Two external stacks project from the building: one has a top stage arcaded with a single round arch to each face, while the other has a tapered louvred top with a moulded cap.

Elsewhere than the sandstone ashlar front, the building is constructed of yellow-grey brick in a Monk bond variant. The roof is shallow, hipped and pitched with slate, partly glazed, with brick stacks.

The interior has not been inspected.