NZ Visual Diary - entry 126
Auckland Art Gallery
Nestled at the corner of Kitchener and Wellesley Streets, as well as the southwest boundaries of Albert Park and the University of Auckland campus, the Auckland Art Gallery is a city treasure.
The original (or main) building exudes European architectural elegance. The gallery’s website provides a thoughtful narrative on the main building’s history:
Melbourne architects John H Grainger and Charles A D’Ebro designed the oldest part of our building in French Château style. One of Auckland’s first civic buildings, this Category 1 historic place is loved for its timeless beauty. After opening in 1887 as Auckland City’s Free Public Library and Municipal Offices, part of the building was devoted to the Gallery. Our doors officially opened on 17 February 1888.
After six years of construction, the addition opened in 2011. It is a brilliant example of vernacular architecture, a style that promotes appreciation of context and place, the necessity that a building reflect and incorporate elements of its physical surroundings and maximise the use of traditional and local materials in its construction.
The addition’s architecture is also sensitively informed by the cultural heritage of the Māori peoples of New Zealand.
Among other architectural elements of the addition, the expansive roof canopy echoes and stylistically extends the visual appeal of the Albert Park tree canopy and incorporates salient expressions of Māori art, architecture and belief systems.