Walker Art Gallery, Refurbishment

The refurbished galleries provide space for travelling exhibitions, delivering the quality of environmental control necessary for a gallery on the international circuit, air conditioned and with controlled lighting throughout.

There is a ground floor gallery on the right as you enter, then a cafe and shop in the main lobby area beyond, plus another newly re-opened craft and design gallery space to the right of the lobby, which is to house some of Liverpool’s large collection of decorative arts objects. Apart from these ground floor spaces, all the galleries are upstairs.

On reaching the first floor, you pass through two galleries to arrive at the 1933 extension entrance. Within the extension, use is made of the saw-tooth-plan area between the 1884 and 1933 galleries, providing a foyer containing a reception/ticketing area, second shop and small audio-visual area.

This foyer acts as an environmental transition and a modern interlude between sets of galleries of somewhat differing styles. From the foyer area, you enter the small Bartlett gallery, which feeds into the two principal refurbished spaces, the Audley and Prince George galleries.