City Gallery is set to close on 30 June until 2026. Photo: CC-BY-SA-3.0 / Rachel.healy
Wellington's main art gallery is shutting its doors for two years due to construction work in Te Ngākau Civic Square, as well as building repairs.
City Gallery Te Whare Toi will close on 30 June until 2026.
The main access to the gallery's grand 1940 art deco building via Te Ngākau Civic Square will be closed in June, while demolition work on the nearby Civic Administration Building, which is vulnerable to earthquakes, takes place.
"The building has to undergo some repairs and some maintenance" - Diana Marsh
Experience Wellington chief executive Diana Marsh said exhibitions would continue to be shown in other locations, including Te Papa and the Dowse art gallery in Lower Hutt.
The gallery was always set to move in 2025 so the building could undergo repairs and maintenance, including putting in a lift, she said.
"We have decided to leave slightly earlier because of the work that is being done on Te Ngākau Square, so that square in Wellington, and the situation changed and so we made the decision that in order for Wellingtonians to be able to access appropriately our exhibitions, which are amazing over the six months, we needed to put them in a place that was accessible and didn't potentially compromise the exhibitions."
Once closed the square would not be accessible via Victoria Street which was the main access not only for visitors, but also for bringing in large artworks, she said.
Initially the gallery was just going to be shut but now that it was closing earlier than expected City Gallery will continue, but at various different locations, she said.
The team had done a remarkable job in moving some of the exhibitions in a matter of two or three weeks, she said.
Negotiations were still underway in terms of locations for some exhibitions but the gallery staff were looking at a variety of locations and how they could best reach Wellingtonians and visitors to the capital, she said.
"We can confirm that we're going to Te Papa with our Generation X exhibition and the Chartwell exhibition and we're going to the Dowse for our Derek Jarman Delphinium Days which is an international exhibition and it's great that lots of people are going to get to see these exhibitions."
Asked whether City Gallery was guaranteed to return to its building in 2026, Marsh said she did not know but that was what the council had said.
The gallery's closure was a blow but it was exciting that Te Ngākau Civic Square would become "an amazing arts hub for Wellington" with music organisations, City Gallery and the central library, she said.
In December 2023, the gallery significantly reduced its weekday opening schedule to a few hours a day from 4pm to 7.30pm, to accommodate construction work on the city's new library.