Robert McDougall Art Gallery

43°31′51″S 172°37′34″E / 43.530799°S 172.626151°E / -43.530799; 172.626151Current tenantsCanterbury MuseumCompleted1932LandlordChristchurch City CouncilDesign and constructionArchitect(s)Edward ArmstrongDesignated2 April 1985Reference no.303

The Robert McDougall Art Gallery is a heritage building in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was designed by Edward Armstrong and it opened in 1932. It is a Category I heritage building listed with Heritage New Zealand and is located within the Christchurch Botanic Gardens.

History

In 1925 James Jamieson, a wealthy local building contractor, pledged to leave his art collection to Christchurch City on the condition that a new premises were built to house it. The Christchurch City Council held a referendum to gauge public support for taking out a loan to pay for the new gallery. This idea was rejected and nothing happened until 1928 when Robert McDougall donated £25,000 for the gallery to be built.^[1] A competition was set up to find an agreeable design. The selection committee, which included Robert McDougall, choose Edward Armstrong's design.^[2] The site in the botanic gardens behind the Canterbury Museum was chosen. Building of the new gallery commenced in November 1930 and by April 1932 it was near completion when funds ran low. Robert McDougall supplemented his original gift enabling the completion of the gallery at a total cost of £31,000.^[2] In total the new gallery housed 160 works, the majority of which came from two collections, the Canterbury Society of Arts and James Jamieson's collection. By 1961 the McDougall's collection had grown to 325 works, and by 2001 it was over 5,000 items. The collection outgrew the Robert McDougall Gallery and the Christchurch Art Gallery was built to house the collection in 2002. The Robert McDougall Gallery was largely empty from the opening of the new art gallery until it was closed permanently after the September 2010 earthquake.^[3] The building survived the Christchurch earthquakes and had some repairs in 2016.^[4] It is awaiting more strengthening work to protect it against future earthquakes and it still remains empty.^[3]

In 1942 the painting Psyche by Solomon Joseph Solomon was stolen from the gallery.^[5][6]

Design

The single story gallery has a large central hall, with scagliola columns and marble floors. It is constructed of brick and concrete, and faced with Oamaru stone. Armstrong was inspired by the Sarjeant Gallery in Whanganui. Both the Sarjeant Gallery and the Robert McDougall Gallery use Samuel Hurst Seager's idea of 'topside lighting'. This is where skylights allow natural light to fall onto the displayed pictures without the light falling onto the visitors or the floors.^[2][1]

References

Earthquakes

Located in or near Christchurch	June 1869 September 2010 Boxing Day 2010 February 2011 June 2011 December 2011 February 2016
Located elsewhere causing damage in Christchurch	1855 Wairarapa 1881 Castle Hill 1888 North Canterbury 1901 Cheviot 1922 Motunau 2016 Kaikōura

Buildings

Lost	Bus Exchange Christchurch Central Library Te Pae Convention Centre Crowne Plaza The Civic Clarendon Tower Cranmer Centre Cranmer Court CTV Building Durham Street Methodist Church Excelsior Hotel Guthrey Centre Hornby Clocktower Hotel Grand Chancellor Linwood House Lyttelton Borough Council Chambers Lyttelton Road Tunnel Administration Building Lyttelton Times Building Majestic Theatre Manchester Courts Oxford Terrace Baptist Church PGC building Press Building St John's Church St Luke's Church St Paul's Church Warner's Hotel Weston House Westpac Canterbury Centre Wharetiki House
Demolition	Implosion of Radio Network House Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament Central Police Station Lancaster Park Music Centre of Christchurch Twinkle Toes
Damaged with uncertain future	Antonio Hall Odeon Theatre
Remaining	Antigua Boat Sheds Arts Centre (Dux de Lux, Registry Building) Bridge of Remembrance Canterbury Club Canterbury Provincial Council Buildings Chief Post Office Christchurch Art Gallery Christ Church Cathedral Christchurch Club St Michael Church Citizens' War Memorial City Mall Curator's House Forsyth Barr Building Godley Statue Isaac Theatre Royal Knox Church McDougall Art Gallery McLean's Mansion Midland Club Building New Brighton Pier New Regent Street Lyttelton Timeball Station Old Government Building Our City Peterborough Centre Public Trust Building Riccarton House Rolleston Statue Scott Statue Shand's Emporium Sign of the Kiwi St Saviour's Chapel Town Hall Trinity Congregational Church Victoria Clock Tower Victoria Mansions Worcester Chambers
New	185 empty chairs (unofficial memorial) Cardboard Cathedral Christchurch Catholic Cathedral Pallet Pavilion Re:START
Lists	historic places tall buildings

Land

Categories	Central City Red Zone Residential red zone (East Lake) TC3
Suburbs worst affected	Central City Avonside Avondale Dallington Bexley Southshore Brooklands Kaiapoi

People

Associated with earthquakes	Ann Brower Gerry Brownlee Kaila Colbin Clayton Cosgrove Ruth Dyson Antony Gough John Hamilton Andrew Holden Warwick Isaacs Sam Johnson André Lovatt Neil MacLean Tony Marryatt John Ombler Bob Parker Nigel Priestley Mark Quigley Alan Reay Ken Ring Gerald Shirtcliff Roger Sutton Deon Swiggs Coralie Winn
Died in earthquake	Jo Giles Amanda Hooper

Recovery PlanOrganisations

Public sector	CCDU CERA Christchurch City Council Civil Defence Regenerate Christchurch SCIRT Selwyn District Council Waimakariri District Council
Private and voluntary sector	Farmy Army Gap Filler Greening the Rubble Ministry of Awesome Student Volunteer Army The Press

ServicesLegislationCommission of Inquiry