Originally published at: Letter inside false column thanks workers for finally removing them
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AND THAT WE WOULD LIVE TO REGRET
John, one of the most generous UK donors to the arts, died in 2022, aged 94.
A big nope there.
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A true pillar of the community, he was.
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More like he didn’t live to not regret anymore.
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The wording of the letter implies that he thought he and his generation would live to regret the columns, while offering praise to whichever future generation removed them. So sounds pretty spot-on to me.
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I read that the renovations were announced shortly before his death, which suggests he was clinging to life at 94 in anticipation of this conclusion and died happy upon learning that it was imminent.
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As a regular visitor to the gallery, I too am delighted that those columns are going; that space needed a serious rethink (although I adore the Sainsbury Wing in general - it achieves its main purposes incredibly well.) And the story is nicely amusing - a time capsule that actually had a purpose and one which has paid off.
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I find the Sainsbury Wing holds a less eclectic collection than the Aldi Wing.
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This is the same building that Prince Charles refereed to as a “monsterous carbuncle”.
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This is the Charles-approved replacement to the Carbuncle design, which he successfully meddled out of contention at the time.
Here’s carbuncle:
And what was finally built:
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Indeed. I rarely agree with Charles’ views on architecture, but in this case he was absolutely correct. It wouldn’t have fit with the rest of the square either, which the final design definitely does. There are certainly places where that design would have worked and worked well; as an extension to the National Gallery on Trafalgar Square, not really.
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I love the Aisle of Dreams exhibit.
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Designing new buildings to look like old buildings is intellectually dishonest, a lie set in stone and concrete. A building should reflect its own period.
It’s the hallmark of good architecture to make that work as a stimulating and uplifting contrast, a dialogue if you will, in historical surroundings.
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I guess it depends upon what you are expecting? If the Sainsbury Wing had been a completely new building that was unconnected with the National Gallery, then having a radically different feel may well have been the right approach. As it happens, I tend to think that the final building is quite sophisticated; it is clearly an 80s structure (both inside and out) but it definitely also engages with the design of the main building in a more subtle way than the original proposal. And there are also questions about certain sites being considered “national heritage” - Trafalgar Square probably qualifies as one of those - although this should obviously not be an overriding factor.
Note: I am not saying that I disagree with you. I love new buildings, especially ones that do interesting things with the area they are in. Most of the ‘skyscrapers’ in the City provide an excellent juxtaposition with, say, St Paul’s cathedral (and I’ve sometimes noted that people in the 17th C probably complained about Wren’s monstrous carbuncle a lot too!) And had the original design of the Sainsbury Wing been constructed, I dare say I would have been fine with it. So yeah, I’m a hypocrite.
Excellent! Keep column it what it is!
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