page_title: Vancouver Art Gallery
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Vancouver Art Gallery / History
caption_attribution_description: Interior of the Vancouver Art Gallery
context_page_description: The Vancouver Art Gallery is an art museum located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Situated in downtown Vancouver, the museum occupies a 15,300-square-metre-building adjacent to Robson Square, making it the largest art museum in Western Canada by building size. Designed by Francis Rattenbury, the building the museum presently occupies was originally opened as a provincial courthouse, before it was re-purposed for museum use in the early 1980s. The building was designated as the Former Vancouver Law Courts National Historic Site of Canada in 1980.
  The museum was opened to the public in 1931 in a building designed by architectural firm Sharp and Johnston. The museum expanded its first building once in 1950, before plans were undertaken to move the institution to the former provincial courthouse building. The museum was relocated to the provincial courthouse in 1983. Plans were undertaken by the museum in the late 2000s and 2010s to relocate the institution to a new facility in Larwill Park.
context_section_description: In April 1931, the Vancouver Art Gallery Association was established under the provincial Society Act, in order to establish and maintain a museum for the City of Vancouver. The Association opened the art museum to the public at 1145 West Georgia Street on 5 October 1931. The building was designed by architectural firm Sharp and Johnston, and featured four galleries, one of which included a sculpture hall, a lecture hall, and a library. The cost to construct the building was approximately C$40,000.
   
  Works by British, and other European artists dominated the works exhibited at the museum at the time of its opening. In 1938, the museum was the one of the buildings occupied by unemployed protesters during a sitdown strike in the weeks leading up to Bloody Sunday. No paintings were damaged while the protesters occupied the building.
  In 1950, the museum conducted renovations to its building, reshaping the design of the building towards an International Style of architecture; with the removal of the building's Art Deco facade. Renovations were also conducted to accommodate the 157 works bequeathed to the museum by Emily Carr, with the building reopened to the public in 1951. Cost for the renovation was approximately C$600,000, funded by the City of Vancouver government, and funds raised by Lawren Harris.
  In 1983 the museum was relocated to its present location, the former provincial courthouse. The building continues to be owned by the Government of British Columbia, although the museum occupies the building through a 99-year sublease signed with the City of Vancouver government in 1974; who in turn leases the building from the provincial government. Before the re-purposed building was opened to the public, it was renovated by architect Arthur Erickson at a cost of C$20 million, as a part of his larger three city-block Robson Square redevelopment. The gallery connects to the rest of Robson Square via an underground passage below Robson Street.
  Plans to build a new building for the museum were undertaken in 2004, a result from its need for more exhibition and storage space for its collections. In November 2007, the museum publicly announced plans to move to seek approval from Vancouver City Council to build a new building at Larwill Park, a block formerly occupied by a bus depot on the corner of Cambie and Georgia streets. However, in May 2008, the museum and the City of Vancouver government announced its intention to relocate to an area occupied by the Plaza of Nations. The Vancouver City Council later reversed its decision in April 2013, opting to approve the original proposed site in Larwill Park. In September 2013, the museum formally issued requests for qualifications to construct the new building, receiving responses from 75 architectural firms from 16 countries. In April 2014, Herzog & de Meuron's bid was selected by the museum. The development of the Vancouver Art Gallery's new building is the first project for the architectural firm in the country. Perkins and Will's Vancouver branch was contracted as the project's executive architects.
  The cost to construct the building has been estimated to be C$330 million, with the federal and provincial governments expected to provide C$200 million, and the museum expected to raise the rest from public and private donors. Should the museum secure its relocation, the museum would occupy the building under similar arrangements as the former courthouse, with the museum leasing the property from the City of Vancouver. Completion of the building was originally announced to be in 2020 by the architect selection committee in 2014. However, as of September 2019, developments for the new building have stalled due to a funding dispute between the federal and provincial governments.
caption: Interior of the museum's first building at West Georgia Street, 1932
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