A new art gallery for Richard Green designed by George Saumarez Smith of Robert Adam Architects has just won planning permission from Westminster City Council.

The new building, Richard Green Modern has been designed for the Richard Green Gallery, one of the world’s leading fine art dealers, and will replace the present Richard Green buildings at 32-33 New Bond Street.  The new gallery has been designed specifically to display post 1900 modern works, and will compliment Richard Green’s other premises at 147 New Bond Street and 39 Dover Street.

George Saumarez Smith said; “This particular and most interesting challenge in New Bond Street has been to design a new building that respects its varied townscape and also retains a strong identity of its own.  We believe that Classical architecture will form the perfect setting for the display of modern art.”  

The façade of the new building unites the two previous structures into one coherent design.  By following the horizontal and vertical division typical of the street, the new façade responds to its important setting in the Mayfair conservation area, including the adjacent Grade II listed Sotheby’s headquarters.  

Internally, the reconfiguration of the gallery will result in higher ceilings and lighter spaces suitable for the display of larger scale modern paintings and sculpture. 

A central part of the design is a sculptural frieze by the Scottish neoclassical sculptor Alexander Stoddart, based on the legend of the Odyssey.  The frieze will enhance the simple classical character of the façade and contribute to the tradition of architectural sculpture found along Bond Street.