Pallant House Gallery is a remarkable hybrid: one of the country's finest examples of domestic town architecture in the Queen Anne townhouse which dates from 1712, adjoined by an award winning contemporary wing, designed by Long & Kentish architects in association with Colin St John Wilson and opened to the public together as Pallant House Gallery in 2006.
The original Pallant House was the first of its style in Chichester and was regarded as very modern in its day, finished inside and out with very fine craftsmanship. Externally, Pallant House is, to modern eyes, elegant, restrained and the epitome of Englishness. But in its time it was the height of modernism. Its style, its materials and its size would have been very new to Chichester in the early eighteenth century. Its Baroque features must have looked positively outlandish to the inhabitants of Chichester at the end of Queen Anne's reign.
The new wing pays tribute to the quality, craftsmanship and outstanding architecture of the original Pallant House, preserving and emphasising the historic house as an architectural entity. The new wing, the design of which also caused controversy, is an acclaimed addition to Pallant House, and has won several architectural and access awards, including an award from the Royal Institute of British Architects.
The new gallery now provides seventeen gallery rooms, as well as a bookshop, education studio, restaurant, library and visitor facilities.