Richards Art Gallery And Museum

SANDWELL MB HOLYHEAD ROAD SO 9894 NE Wednesbury 12/106 Richards Art Gallery and Museum

II

Art gallery. 1890 by Wood and Kendrick (foundation stone). Red brick and terra cotta. A symmetrical composition of two storeys, the upper storey blind, with two bays on each side of entrance. The bays are separated by pilasters. Above the main cornice is a balustrade, with piers between bays carrying urns. Second cornice above tall lower storey. On the ground floor are timber cross-windows. Above each is a semi-circular pediment springing from a moulded band. Each contains moulded decoration including a cartouche. Each bay on the first floor has a terra cotta panel with relief portraits of St Christopher Wren, Sir Joshua Reynolds, John Flaxman and Sir Isaac Newton. Above the doorway are two niches, separated by a pilaster and containing busts of William Lloyd, Chairman of the Art Gallery Committee and of Mayor Williams. Above the main cornice is a centrepiece with a shield of arms and motto below a pediment. The doorway has an elliptical arch and is flanked by attached octagonal turrets with pinnacles. Within a pediment is moulded decoration and inscrition: "Art Gallery". Interior: stone Imperial stair with cast iron balusters.

Listing NGR: SO9860094738