Table Of ContentMUSEUM ARCHITECTURE
Recentdecadeshavewitnessedanexplosionofmuseumbuildingaroundtheworldandthe
subsequentpublicationofmultipletextsdedicatedtothesubject.MuseumArchitecture:Anew
biography focuses on the stories we tell of museum buildings in order to explore the nature
of museum architecture and the problems of architectural history when applied to the
museum and gallery.Starting from a discussion of the key issues in contemporary museum
design,the book explores the role of architectural history in the prioritisation of specific
stories of museum building and museum architects and the exclusion of other actors from
the history of museum making.These omissions have contemporary relevance and impact
directly on the ways in which the physical structures of museums are shaped.Theoretically,
the book places a particular emphasis on the work of Pierre Bourdieu and Henri Lefebvre
in order to establish an understanding of buildings as social relations; the outcome of
complex human interactions and relationships.
The book utilises a micro history,an in-depth case study of the‘National Gallery of the
North’,theWalkerArt Gallery in Liverpool,to expose the myriad ways in which museum
architecture is made.Coupled with this detailed exploration is an emphasis on contempo-
rary museum design which utilises the understanding of the social realities of museum
makingtoexploreideasforasociallysustainablemuseumarchitecturefitforthetwenty-first
century.
Suzanne MacLeodisHeadoftheSchoolofMuseumStudies,UniversityofLeicester.Her
research interests focus on museum architecture and design and particularly the relationship
between historical representations of museums and contemporary design practice.
Publications include Museum Making (ed.with Laura Hourston Hanks and Jonathan Hale,
2012),Museum Revolutions (ed.with Simon Knell and SheilaWatson,2007),and Reshaping
Museum Space (2005).
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MUSEUM ARCHITECTURE
A new biography
Suzanne MacLeod
Firstpublished2013
byRoutledge
2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,OxonOX144RN
SimultaneouslypublishedintheUSAandCanada
byRoutledge
711ThirdAvenue,NewYork,NY10017
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©2013SuzanneMacLeod
TherightofSuzanneMacLeodtobeidentifiedasauthorofthisworkhasbeenassertedbyher
inaccordancewithsections77and78oftheCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988.
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedorreproducedorutilisedinany
formorbyanyelectronic,mechanical,orothermeans,nowknownorhereafterinvented,
includingphotocopyingandrecording,orinanyinformationstorageorretrievalsystem,
withoutpermissioninwritingfromthepublishers.
Trademarknotice:Productorcorporatenamesmaybetrademarksorregisteredtrademarks,and
areusedonlyforidentificationandexplanationwithoutintenttoinfringe.
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ISBN:978-0-415-52904-4(hbk)
ISBN:978-0-415-52905-1(pbk)
ISBN:978-0-203-52783-2(ebk)
TypesetinBembo
byFiSHBooksLtd,Enfield
For my dad.
Ronald David MacLeod
(1937–2009)
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CONTENTS
List of figures viii
Acknowledgements xi
Introduction 1
1 Telling stories of museum architecture 11
2 ‘Hobson’s choice’:art and grog in Liverpool 36
3 ‘It is,of course,very easy to make merry over theAlderman inArt’:
the 1930s extension and renovation 72
4 Ration cards,food hordes and art:occupation by friendly forces and the
battle for liberation 1939–1951 109
5 Art (and architecture) in a city:ambition,illusion and revolution 141
6 The social architecture of museums 176
Notes 187
Appendix:Harold Furniss’ Testimony 218
Abbreviations 222
Primary sources 223
Secondary sources 225
Index 234
FIGURES
1.1 The Museum of Liverpool 12
1.2 Liverpool’s‘Three Graces’viewed from the Museum of Liverpool 14
2.1 TheWalkerArt Gallery,Building News and Engineering Journal,7 September 1877,
plate 1 37
2.2 Plan illustratingWilliam Brown Street and the extension to theWalkerArt
Gallery by 1884 43
2.3 A comparison of Shaw’s Brow (laterWilliam Brown Street) in 1850 and 1950 43
2.4 The original entrance vestibule as built in 1877 51
2.5 One of the rooms in the 1884 extension with a Minton fountain in the centre 52
2.6 TheWalkerArt Gallery tearoom,1880s 52
2.7 The white rosette worn by 8,000 working men who marched through
Liverpool to mark the opening 56
2.8 Bill poster for the public subscription 57
2.9 Drawing of the design for the silver-gilt casket to be presented toA.B.Walker
on the occasion of the opening of theWalkerArt Gallery,1877 58
2.10 The silver-gilt casket commissioned forA.B.Walker and funded from the public
subscription 58
2.11 The procession route 60
2.12 Detail from Illustrated London News, 15 September 1877,showing‘theTrades’
gathering on the day of the opening 61
2.13 Detail from Illustrated London News, 15 September 1877,showing the procession
on the day of the opening 62
2.14 Detail from Illustrated London News, 15 September 1877,showingA.B.Walker
on the platform on the day of the opening 63
2.15 The opening ceremony,The Graphic,15 September 1877 63
2.16 The statue ofA.B.Walker,commissioned in 1877 from theTestimonial
Subscription 64
2.17 Detail from Illustrated London News, showing the disturbances around‘TheArk’
on the day of the opening,1877 65
Figures ix
2.18 ‘TheArk’,65a Kensington Street,fromWilliam Hamling’s,A Short History of the
LiverpoolTrades Council 66
2.19 ‘A casket to commemorate the opening of the Potters’Field’,a cartoon 67
2.20 ‘A casket to commemorate the opening of the Potters’Field’,a cartoon (detail) 67
2.21 ‘A casket to commemorate the opening of the Potters’Field’,a cartoon (detail) 68
2.22 ‘A casket to commemorate the opening of the Potters’Field’,a cartoon (detail) 68
3.1 The Futurist,opened in 1912 76
3.2 The Egyptian-style interior atThe Scala,opened in 1916 76
3.3 The Forum,Lime Street 77
3.4 The rushing of theWalkerArt Gallery by the NUWCM,12 September 1921 79
3.5 Plan of the properties at the rear of theWalkerArt Gallery,1926 87
3.6 The‘corporation yard’,prior to the 1930s extension 88
3.7 Plan of theWilliam Brown Street complex showing the addition of the 1930s
extension and the enlarged entrance hall at theWalkerArt Gallery 88
3.8 TheWalkerArt Gallery extension under construction 90
3.9 New top-lit galleries at first floor level under construction 91
3.10 Section of a top side-lighted gallery 92
3.11 TheAnti-Reflection Gallery,or Room XIII,the National Gallery,Millbank
(Tate) 1926,clearly shows the clerestory lights and curved half ceiling 93
3.12 TheAnti-Reflection Gallery or Room XIII,the National Gallery,Millbank
(Tate) 1926,clearly illustrates the wash of light down the long wall and the
shadows towards the centre of the gallery 93
3.13 The model built by the National Physical Laboratory to test the Seager system 95
3.14 Notes of the Liverpool delegation to the National Gallery andTate Gallery,
29 October 1929 95
3.15 The Duveen Room at the National Gallery,1930 96
3.16 Artificial lighting experiments in the Duveen Room at the National Gallery 97
3.17 Notes of the Liverpool delegation to the National Gallery andTate Gallery,
29 October 1929 98
3.18 Long Picture Gallery in the Courtauld Galleries,Fitzwilliam Museum,
Cambridge,1931 100
3.19 Long Picture Gallery bay in the Courtauld Galleries,Fitzwilliam Museum,
Cambridge,1931 100
3.20 Long Picture Gallery in the Courtauld Galleries,mirror-backed display cabinets
placed at the end of each bay,Fitzwilliam Museum,Cambridge 101
3.21 Entrance to theWalkerArt Gallery,1933 102
3.22 The circulation space above the central hall,WalkerArt Gallery,1933 102
3.23 The double height central hall in 1933 with the statue ofA.B.Walker in the
background 103
3.24 Prince George Gallery photographed in 1933 for Pictures FromThe Post 105
3.25 Bowring Gallery,date unknown,but likely to be 1950s 105
3.26 Re-opening exhibition catalogue with stylised image of Liverpool on the cover,
1933 106
4.1 Ministry of Food workers in theWalkerArt Gallery,1940s 112
4.2 Advertisement from Communal Feeding inWartime,Women’sVoluntary Services
for Civil Defence,1940 114
