One man hated a building he sponsored so much, he hid a ‘thank you’ letter addressed to demolition workers within his least favourite feature.
It only took an £85million redevelopment that finally fulfilled the original donor’s wishes 34 years after the fact.
John Sainsbury, former chairman of the supermarket chain, and his brothers gave an estimated £40million – worth £90million today – to the National Gallery.
This funded the gallery’s Sainsbury Wing, but John so fiercely hated the design, he dropped a letter wrapped in plastic into a concrete column during construction.
Dated July 26, 1990, John wrote: ‘If you have found this note you must be engaged in demolishing one of the false columns that have been placed in the foyer of the Sainsbury Wing of the National Gallery.
‘I believe that the false columns are a mistake of the architect and that we would live to regret our accepting this detail of his design.
‘Let it be known that one of the donors of this building is absolutely delighted that your generation has decided to dispense with the unnecessary columns.’
John very nearly lived to see his time capsule discovered, but he died in 2022 at the age of 94.
His wife Anya, a 91-year-old former ballerina, was present for its discovery last year, The Art Newspaper reported.
She said: ‘I was so happy for John’s letter to be rediscovered after all these years, and I feel he would be relieved and delighted for the gallery’s new plans and the extra space they are creating.’
Despite the gallery fulfilling John’s wishes more than 30 years since Queen Elizabeth II opened the ‘mistake’, the original design has been defended.
Neil MacGregor, who was the gallery’s director at the time of construction, still sees sense in architect Robert Venturi’s vision.
He said: ‘Venturi wanted the foyer to have the feel of a mighty crypt, leading upstairs to the galleries, so it was a subsidiary space—the beginning of a journey, not a destination.
‘John Sainsbury argued that sightlines should be as unencumbered as possible, thinking the extra columns would conceal the entrance to the lecture theatre and temporary exhibition galleries, confusing the visitor.’
He added: ‘Although there were drawbacks, Venturi had a coherent idea of the organic link between entrance hall, staircase and main galleries.
‘I felt that, on balance, we should let the architect be the architect.’
Now the Sainsbury Wing is being redeveloped with an £85million upgrade, and the Sainsbury family is once again the single largest contributor.
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