Lord Sainsbury’s Displeasure with False Columns in National Gallery’s Sainsbury Wing Revealed in Hidden Letter
A hidden letter from Lord Sainsbury, the donor who funded the National Gallery’s Sainsbury Wing in 1990, has been uncovered during renovations last year. In the letter, Lord Sainsbury expressed his dissatisfaction with the “unnecessary” columns in the building, which he was “absolutely delighted” to see demolished.
Mark Sainsbury, Lord Sainsbury’s son, revealed on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that his father and the architects had strongly disagreed on the design of the columns. As a compromise, Lord Sainsbury’s uncle suggested hiding a letter expressing his dissatisfaction within one of the columns.
The columns were part of a design by American architect Robert Venturi and his wife, Denise Scott Brown, for the Sainsbury Wing. Lord Sainsbury, a former chair of a supermarket chain, disliked the addition of the non-structural columns in the foyer.
The letter, typed in capitals on Sainsbury’s letterheaded paper, stated, “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.”
Last year, the gallery began upgrading the Sainsbury Wing to accommodate the increased visitor numbers. Lord Sainsbury passed away two years ago at the age of 94, but his widow and daughter were present when the letter was removed from the column.
While Mark Sainsbury described the moment as “lovely,” not everyone agrees with the decision to remove the columns. Denise Scott Brown expressed her dislike for the redesign, and Neil MacGregor, the gallery’s former director, supported the columns at the time, stating, “I felt that, on balance, we should let the architect be the architect.”
