The dance hall, 1875–79
The Art Gallery’s first permanent home at Clark’s New Assembly Hall on Elizabeth Street, 3rd building on the right.
Although the Gallery was founded in 1871, it did not start to collect works of art until 1874. The collection required a place where it could be displayed, so in April 1875 the New South Wales Academy of Art rented Clark’s New Assembly Hall on Elizabeth Street in the city. The building had once been used as a dance academy and the salle de danse on the top floor became the main exhibition space, with ground floor rooms given over to art classes and sublet to the Royal Society of New South Wales. A sketch from The Illustrated Sydney News shows this top floor as a light-filled space with a mezzanine gallery at one end. The walls had 180 metres of hanging room, with clerestory windows placed high above the works of art.
A three-year lease was taken out on the building at an annual rent of £250, with Frederick Eccleston Du Faur and Eliezer Levi Montefiore, founders of the Academy, personally guaranteeing the contract. An inaugural exhibition was opened on 3 June 1876. The public were given free admission on Fridays and Saturdays from noon to 4pm. Members of the Academy and students had daily access from 9am to 4pm.
Clark's Assembly Hall, The Art Gallery’s first permanent home on Elizabeth Street, centre.