The Portrait Gallery of Canada...in Vancouver?
 

Portrait gallery looks nationwide for new home

Last Updated: Friday, November 9, 2007 | 3:49 PM ET
CBC News

The federal government wants nine cities across Canada to compete for the right to host the national portrait gallery originally slated to open in Ottawa.

"Our government has set forth the notion that national cultural institutions do not necessarily have to be located in the national capital," said Heritage Minister Josée Verner at a news conference Friday announcing what she called "a bold and innovative step."

The competition will seek a qualified developer in "the best possible location in Canada" for the Portrait Gallery of Canada, Verner said.

The Conservative government has launched a request for proposals from Halifax, Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa-Gatineau, Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver.

Verner said those cities are being considered because they have large populations, strong tourism and would make the gallery accessible.

Information about the contest will be posted next week on the Public Works and Government Services Canada website, and the winner will be announced before summer 2008.

Original Ottawa site not in running: Fortier

Public Works Minister Michael Fortier said the government wants to ensure maximum tax-dollar benefits by including the private sector in developing the new gallery.

He estimated it would open in 2011 or 2012, and he said the historic Ottawa building originally chosen to house it will not be considered as a possible site.

When asked about the $8 million spent on the portrait gallery already, Fortier said about half of that would have been spent on the project even if work hadn't begun on the site in Ottawa.

The gallery was announced by the Liberal government in 2001, and was to open in 2005 in the historic former American embassy building across from Parliament Hill in Ottawa at an estimated cost of $22 million.

However, the project's cost grew to $45 million and its opening was delayed until at least 2007.

After Stephen Harper's Conservative Government launched a review of the project in 2006, rumours began circulating that the gallery might move to Calgary.

The gallery's collection of portraits is currently housed out of public view in an Ottawa area building operated by the national archives.





It could possibly in Vancouver, the provincial government and the city are spending $10 million on a cultural precinct for the downtown core, which would involve a new home for the Vancouver Art Gallery, space for new museums, art schools, and a performing arts centre. This could well be Vancouver's own Guggenheim or Federation Place (Melbourne), and will cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

Either that or it could be located at the old courthouse in downtown, where the Vancouver Art Gallery is today, when the Art Gallery moves out to its new home.

or maybe here:
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g2...gedy13/tst.jpg

Best Idea Ever.

it appears that the art gallery is moving forward with plans to relocate.
if this happens, could the current VAG be turned into the national portrait gallery? would seem like a great fit! i'd hate for that site to sit empty for years -

Vancouver Art Gallery taking steps to relocate
MARSHA LEDERMAN

From Wednesday's Globe and Mail
November 21, 2007 at 4:00 AM EST

Vancouver — The Vancouver Art Gallery is preparing to pursue a move from its current building to a former bus-depot site a few blocks away.

The VAG has been interested in the site at West Georgia and Cambie Streets, next to the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, for some time and has now decided to pursue the parcel of city-owned land as its sole property of interest.

The spot currently houses a parking lot and will be the location of one of two "Live Sites" during the 2010 Olympics.

Gallery officials will hold consultation meetings with members, beginning next month.

The VAG has long outgrown its current home on Robson Street, a former provincial courthouse that was built in 1906 and reconfigured in the early 1980s by Vancouver architect Arthur Erickson to house the gallery.

Is the VAG actually a municipal building? If so, how LOOOOONG would the design, procurement and development process take for a new gallery on that site? Are we talking 5 years? So this project would be done in 2017 or so?

If that's the case, what are the odds of the National Portrait Gallery waiting that long to move? I think the NPG relocation is basically a political tool to show fairness by the feds, so they are likely to want to make a firm announcement in a very timely manner - i.e, before an election call. Although I'd love to see the NPG in the VAG space, I just think with the speed of municipal action it'll not get sorted in time.

It's already been at least 3.5 years since they started the process...

Personally, I think they should do the following shuffle:

VAG to Larwill Park/Bus Depot site
Vancouver Museum to existing VAG/Old Courthouse site
Aboriginal Museum to old Vancouver Museum site (with the native hat on top)