Fit for a Queen

On St Andrew’s Day Scotland received an extraordinary gift from the Queen, a new Gallery purpose made for the display of the  most precious works of art. The Gallery’s first exhibition, of Leonardo drawings, is the start of a series of magnificent displays from the Royal Collections that will continue throughout the years. The subsequent exhibition will be of Fabergé, including four of the celebrated eggs, which will open in time for Easter.

The new Queen’s Gallery at the Palace of Holyroodhouse has been made out of the old Duchess of Gordon’s School and the former Holyrood  Free Church. These buildings were built in the 1840s with funds from the Duchess of Gordon but fell into disuse in the late 19^th century.

The building was intended to be a single construction, but the original architect Archibald Simpson died and the church was added later by John Henderson with fewer funds than originally intended, leading to an awkward connection and a change in scale. When the original functions lapsed, the Palace bought them for converting into chauffeur’s accommodation and a wide range of ancillary uses.

Making a new entrance and beautiful interior with the exceptionally high environmental conditions appropriate for the Royal Collection’s treasures from these interesting buildings was a huge and wonderful challenge for the architects.

To do this, Benjamin Tindall Architects, well known for their work at The Hub and their shop front for The Fringe on the Royal Mile commissioned and collaborated with an international team of skilled craftsmen, many of whom were not previously well known or established.

“We consider the use of artists to be one of the greatest pleasures for the public,” Ben explained. “The richness in detail and imagination gives a freshness that has always been present throughout history. Some of the craftsmen we had worked with before, but many were new, selected for their enthusiasm, and we were prepared to take some risks. The adventure is to be flexible, not to tell the artist exactly what to do, so that their work is unique and hasn’t been done before.”

A new stone arched entrance has been created at the centre of the Horse Wynd frontage, directly opposite the new Scottish Parliament site, uniting the two buildings and giving the Gallery a strong visual presence when approached from the Royal Mile. The use of a stone archway, with a courtyard beyond, is a traditional entrance device in Scottish architecture. On the Royal Mile it can be seen at Aicheson House, for example.

“THE QUEEN’S GALLERY” lettering signals the building’s presence from a distance. These were made by carver and calligrapher, John Neilson, from Wales. Ben explains that he had been looking for someone who could make bold lettering to suit a contemporary style and originally saw John’s work at an exhibition in Cumbria three years ago. Although John had never tackled any project quite as large before, the architects thought his style was right, decided to take a chance, and are delighted with the end result.

The letters re cut from single pieces of stone, with a front face that is moulded and gilded to catch the light by day and to provide a strong silhouette when illuminated at night by the courtyard behind. The carving was completed over several weeks almost entirely by hand. It is rare for lettering to be integrated into the physical structure of a building to this extent , although there are some historical precedents in Scottish architecture. One of the best examples is at Huntly Castle, the ancestral home of the Duchess of Gordon, who was the benefactor of the original school and the church.

Above the lettering sits Scotland’s heraldic lion with gilded bronze sword and sceptre, carved by Jill Watson in stone, painted red and with gilded crowns. Jill is actually architect Benjamin Tindall’s wife. A Scot who studied at Edinburgh College of Art, Jill moved to Italy 18 years ago to learn how to carve. He carves the models for her bronzes in wax whereas most sculptors use clay.

The monumental doors of oak have gilded bronze hinges also by Jill Watson. Continuing the heraldic theme, the main hinges are decorated with Scottish lion and unicorn. The beasts are set against the adjacent urban scene of Edinburgh’s Royal Mile and the rural scene of Arthur’s Seat and Salisbury Crags. The upper hinges are made as golden boughs of flowering native trees.

Below the lettering, the stone archway is decorated with a carved and gilded garland of Scottish flowers including daisies and thistles. The garland was created by Graciella Ainsworth, a Leith based sculptor, carver and conservator, whom Ben has known for many years. Part Argentinean, part Geordie, Graciella helps to bring the architect’s designs to life by creating three-dimensional models. The leaves, flowers and ribbon were modelled in clay and cast into plaster for the carvers to use as a full size template.

At night, the shape of the archway is reflected by the series of bows created by glass lights set into the stone paving. These are the creation of Keiko Mukaide, who has been Artist in Residence at the Edinburgh School of Art for several years.

She first came to the architect’s attention when he spotted beautiful glass pebbles that she was exhibiting in an Edinburgh gallery. She also made the exquisite Japanese-style lanterns on wither side of the new glazed door leading to a small open-air courtyard beyond.

Over the old entrance to the former church is a stained glass window by Christian Shaw. The architect knew Chris’s father who was a lecturer at Edinburgh College of Art. The design shows a perspective drawing of the interior of a gallery, echoing the new function of the building. The window shows abstracted works of art, suggested by lead lines, surrounded by frames made from glass lenses. The tiled floor is made from heavily textured and painted glass.

The treasures and riches continue inside. In the reception where tickets for the Gallery and/or Palace can be bought, is another screen, made of floor to ceiling glass sheets. Patterned with vegetation, they were designed by Jacqui Poncelet who did a similarly beautiful series of glass doors as a screen at The Hub.

In the central doorway, made of gilded steel, is a pair of glass doors with unique bronze handles, again by Jill Watson. On these handles is a tableau of people facing into the Gallery and looking at art, typical of her work. The figures have been made to be handled, they have become the handles themselves, bolting through the glass for pushing or pulling.

The style of the reception is entirely contemporary, with a ceiling of painted concrete of extraordinary quality and exposed steel ribs, curving towards the doors to the Gallery. The floor is of giant slabs of Caithness stone and the room is lit with a cloud of delicate glass pendant lights, with detail corresponding to the screen, purpose made by Ingrid Philips, who is Swedish. The green copper clad desk, matching the patina of the handle figures, has been made by Hamid von Koten from curved pieces of Scottish elm with kilned glass and patinated copper.

The dramatic central stair of native timber leads to the gallery spaces above. The stair’s complex shape was designed by the architects and modelled by Charles Taylor Woodwork in Dalkeith who were responsible for its construction. Lights set into the first floor illuminate the curved balustrading. The central chandelier, some four metres in diameter, is now a signature piece of Benjamin Tindall Architects. It was first designed in 1997 for The Hub, the Edinburgh Festival Centre.

The drama ends with the upper gallery space which is neutral and quiet, so the art can be appreciated without distractions. The walls are designed for the Collection to be beautifully displayed, hung or fixed in a variety of ways, with built-in glass cabinets and add-on spur walls for considerable flexibility.

The lighting system was designed, developed and made in Edinburgh, to allow the works to be seen correctly at low levels. The walls are covered in plain blue cloth, made by Bute Fabrics on the Isle of Bute. The floor is of oak and although the ceiling also appears to be of oak, it is in fact trompe l’oeil. The back of the gallery occupies what was originally the first floor classroom of the school and has a plain coffered ceiling with narrow strips of mirror insert.

The challenge of producing beauty, richness and simplicity out of complexity has been creatively met with an unusual degree of collaboration of artists, craftsmen, engineers and builders, producing not just something practical but also something that is a fitting celebration of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee.