Hugh Broughton Architects has completed a new gallery on the Welbeck Estate in Nottinghamshire.

The new gallery, which officially opens to the public on 20 March 2016, will show changing displays of the historic Portland Collection, one of the finest accumulations of paintings, sculpture, books, tapestries and furniture in private hands in Britain. The collection includes Michelangelo’s rarely seen Madonna del Silenzio (c.1538) and the pearl earring worn by Charles I at his execution in 1649 – and many of the works have not been on public display until now.

The new 890 square metre gallery is set within the grounds of the existing Harley Gallery. Its design complements the heritage of the site and the historic interiors in the state rooms of Welbeck Abbey, whilst enhancing the visitor experience. The project was won through an invited competition organised by Malcolm Reading Consultants in 2012.

The new gallery is housed within the walls of the Tan Gallop, a redundant structure, which was previously used for training racehorses. Externally, elevations have been crisply detailed in handmade Danish brick, which contrasts with and complements original stone walls. Protruding barrel-vaulted zinc roofs provide a dynamic roofline, evoking silhouettes of the Abbey and hinting at the drama within.

Visitors arrive via a courtyard, which the new gallery shares with The Harley Gallery, The Harley Café and Welbeck Farm Shop. A glazed entrance pavilion provides a light and airy threshold with clear views on to a line of trees and a 19th century lodge, now offices. Within the entry pavilion, the original stone walls of the Gallop have been exposed to view. A limestone-clad reception desk sits in front of three full height windows with views to a mature landscape to the north. Top-lit stairs treated with contemporary white walls lead down to other facilities including public toilets, staff areas and lockers contained within a basement.

The Portland Collection has been assembled by the Cavendish-Bentinck family, who have lived at Welbeck for over 400 years. The new gallery is part of The Harley Foundation, which was set up in 1977 by the late Duchess of Portland to encourage creativity and to support the visual arts.

The galleries have been designed as a place of delight and surprise, reflecting the historic architecture of the Welbeck Estate through their materiality, changing scales, colour and texture. The architectural concept creates a structure for John Ronayne’s exhibition design and allows placement of The Portland Collection at centre stage, whilst also celebrating light, space and volume.

The first gallery that visitors enter is the 22m Long Gallery with a cycloidal fibrous plaster ceiling set under a barrel vault roof, seemingly cut in half by a full length translucent rooflight, filling the space with diffuse light and creating the perfect environment to display oil-painted portraits. At the far end a doorway leads to a vitrine of gold and silver, creating an alluring termination to views. From this enclosed space visitors emerge into a larger, more flexible Treasury Gallery, which is sub-divided into three zones. Two areas are lit by north lights and one features low ceilings and controlled lighting for the display of miniatures and light sensitive objects.

The inaugural displays will include miniature portraits selected by Sir Peter Blake, showing 20 March to 18 September 2016.

Hugh Broughton, Director Hugh Broughton Architects said:

“Welbeck has an extraordinary architectural heritage and we are honoured to have been given the opportunity to add to this with the new gallery for The Portland Collection. The building is the product of an extraordinarily creative collaboration with our client, William Parente, and reflects our mutual interests in combining light, volume, colour and texture to produce architecture which is contextual, enduring and engaging for visitors.”

William Parente, grandson of the 7th Duke of Portland, said:

“Hugh Broughton, who many people will know for his extraordinary sci-fi British Antarctic Survey station (it ‘walks’ over a moving glacier as required) has managed to combine that visionary enterprise with a close study of existing buildings at Welbeck. So the toplit Long Gallery recalls some of the 5th Duke’s underground spaces, while the entrance pavilion marries the lightness of glass and steel to the brute power of the original 19th century walls. And his use of handmade bricks is entirely in keeping with the artisan traditions of Welbeck and The Harley Foundation, while he has followed Welbeck’s emphasis on sustainability with a sophisticated climate control system based around air source energy. Hugh has created a beautiful and functional building, and it has been great fun working with him.”

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Notes to editors 

• Notable works in The Portland Collection include Michelangelo’s rarely seen Madonna del Silenzio (c.1538) which will go on show for the first time in fifty years; the pearl earring worn by Charles I at his execution in 1649; The Portland Tiara by Cartier made for Winifred, Duchess of Portland; George Stubbs’s painting of the 3rd Duke of Portland on horseback outside the stables of Welbeck; a collection of over 400 miniatures.
• The original Harley Gallery was built in 1994 and received a Civic Trust Award the following year.
• Environmental strategies have been incorporated into the design. Heating and cooling is derived entirely from electrically driven air sourced heat pumps and a heat recovery system; electrical demand is met by a remote photovoltaic array.
• Facilities include: Ground floor: Two galleries, a reception space, disabled toilet, back of house areas, re-landscaped courtyard; Basement: public toilets, locker facilities, staff room.
• Temperature and humidity are closely controlled and meet Government Indemnity Scheme standards.

Facts & Credits

Location: Welbeck, Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England     

Schedule: Design: March 2012 – January 2014

Construction: April 2014 – November 2015

Client: The Harley Foundation

Client Advisor: Malcolm Reading Consultant

Architect: Hugh Broughton Architects

Exhibition designers: Ronayne Design

Structural engineers: Price and Myers

Services engineers: AECOM

Quantity surveyors: Ridge

Lighting designer: Speirs and Major

Acoustic consultant:Ramboll

Landscape consultant: Dominic Cole Landscape Architects

Photographs:© Hufton+Crow

Hugh Broughton Architects was formed in 1996 and has a reputation for producing carefully crafted contemporary architecture. The practice has designed projects for many high profile clients including the British Council, Institution of Structural Engineers, National Galleries of Scotland, Royal Society of Chemistry and the TUC. The practice is best known for the design of Maidstone Museum East Wing, which completed in 2012 and received an RIBA Downland Award, three AJ Retrofit awards and a Civic Trust Commendation; and Halley VI Antarctic Research Station designed for the British Antarctic Survey, which was officially launched in 2013 and has received fifteen international awards to date. It is an extraordinary project which has led to numerous other international polar commissions and is the subject of a new building monograph published by Park Books in 2015. The practice’s redevelopment of the Henry Moore Foundation, in Perry Green, Hertfordshire will complete in 2016. The restoration of the Painted Hall for the Old Royal Naval College Greenwich and dramatic new interpretation and visitor facilities at Clifford’s Tower in York for English Heritage are also currently in development.