Holburne Museum Bath new galleries images, Schroder family collection news, Architecture architect

Holburne Museum Bath New Galleries Building

11 September 2025

Design: Eric Parry Architects, UK

Location: Bath, western England, UK

Eric Parry Architects returns to Bath’s Holburne, completing new galleries housing Renaissance treasures from the Schroder family collection.

£2.5 million development has delivered two new galleries totalling 128 sq m alongside ancillary spaces at the Grade I listed Holburne in Bath

The new galleries will accommodate the loan of the exceptional Renaissance treasures from the Schroder family collection
The architectural concept for the lower-ground level gallery was to evoke the atmosphere of an intimate treasure chamber—an immersive space of curated wonders. At first-floor level, a new gallery space has been created through the transformation of a former office, returning the space to its historic function as a gallery.
The new galleries build on the success of Eric Parry Architects’ 2011 project, which delivered an 800 sq m extension building within the City of Bath’s UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Photos by Dirk Lindner

Holburne Museum Bath New Galleries Building News

Eric Parry Architects has completed the £2.5 million development of two new galleries and ancillary spaces at the Grade I listed Holburne in Bath, Somerset. Delivered with exhibition designer Real Studios, the new galleries expand the public space available for display within the museum by 128 sq m.

The project was initiated to accommodate the loan of the exceptional Renaissance treasures from the Schroder family collection and builds upon the success of the practice’s 2011 major project to refurbish and extend the museum, which brought about a fourfold increase in visits.

The project began in 2022, when the Holburne approached Eric Parry Architects to explore feasibility options for expanding its gallery space to accommodate the loan of items from the Schroder family, which contains one of the finest private collections of silverware in the UK. Following a thorough investigation of the site’s existing structures and wider historic landscape, the decision was taken to identify spaces within the existing building’s footprint for sensitive conversion into gallery space.

To enable the display of the silverware collection together in one location for the first time, the Holburne has transformed a series of back-of-house art store and ancillary spaces at the lower-ground level of the building into a modern gallery space.

The architectural concept for the lower-ground level gallery evokes the atmosphere of an intimate treasure chamber—an immersive space of curated wonders. A restrained material palette and carefully controlled lighting strategy draw attention to the richness and intricacy of the artworks on display. The exhibition design features bespoke modern display cases lined with carefully selected blue tones that highlight and complement the silverware and maiolica on display. These cases are paired with fabric-lined walls that provide an elegant backdrop for the hanging of Renaissance paintings.

Oak flooring establishes continuity with the material language of the museum’s existing galleries, while stained oak wall linings discreetly conceal structural elements and essential environmental conditioning systems, ensuring the space meets the rigorous standards of a contemporary gallery. An acoustic plaster ceiling dampens sounds and reinforces the subdued, contemplative quality of the environment.

The Schroder Gallery is accessed via a newly refurbished staircase, which takes its material cues – Portland stone and painted metalwork – from the heritage finishes of the existing stair above. Enhancements to the public route down to the lower-ground level improve legibility and strengthen the connection with the museum’s existing footprint.

While carrying out these works, more generous circulation space has been created on the lower ground floor. Linked to the Schroder Gallery by an open hallway that runs along the centre of the plan, in imitation of the arrangement of the ground floor, a new display area expands the Museum’s capacity to display objects from its own collection.

New art storage has been provided within refurbished areas of the listed building, alongside the integration of essential ancillary functions that support both the renewed lower ground level and the wider museum.

At first-floor level, a new gallery space has been created through the transformation of a former office, returning the space to its historic function as a gallery. The space will display The Schroder Collection’s Old Master paintings and will benefit from new environmental conditioning systems, discreetly integrated within new joinery linings that reference the character of adjacent historic gallery spaces. Entered from the adjacent Davidson Ballroom, the new gallery’s historic timber flooring has been restored in situ, complemented by a new lighting strategy and secondary glazing that enhances the environmental performance of the space. To support environmental control within the space, the door from the gallery onto the main staircase has been closed off, and the existing door panel replaced with a replica incorporating glazed panels, allowing views into the gallery from the circulation space.

Throughout the works, Eric Parry Architects has focused on improving and making public spaces that were beyond the scope of the 2011 refurbishment and extension project. The architectural solution continues to strike a sensitive and elegant balance between the restoration of one of Bath’s most treasured Grade I listed landmarks and contemporary interventions that enhance the experience and accessibility of the museum for more than 100,000 visitors annually.

Eric Parry, Founder and Principal of Eric Parry Architects said:

“The Holburne is one of the star attractions within the extraordinary cultural heritage and cityscape of Bath. This new project brings more of both the historic and contemporary buildings into public use, supporting the Museum’s decades-long effort to better serve a growing audience from around the world.

“The original project to refurbish and extend the Holburne was one of the most memorable projects I’ve been involved with and, with the considerable challenge and responsibility of constructing a new building within a UNESCO World Heritage Site, one of the most satisfying to complete and then visit over the years. I’m hugely grateful to the Director and Trustees of the museum for their invitation to complete this new expansion of the museum’s gallery space.”

Director of the Holburne, Dr Chris Stephens, said:

I could not be more thrilled or grateful that the Schroder family have chosen the Holburne as the home for their extraordinary collection of Renaissance fine and decorative art. This is one of the greatest acts of philanthropy in the Holburne’s history and the addition of so many works of such high quality in a dramatically designed gallery will greatly enhance the Holburne’s offer to its audiences and its standing more widely.

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2011 Holburne extension

Thanks to the success of the 2011 project, which delivered a new extension building within the City of Bath’s UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Holburne has become a case study for an approach that integrates high-quality, contemporary architecture into historic contexts. During the 2011 project, the building was comprehensively refurbished, with a three-storey, glass and glazed terracotta extension building added to provide an extra 800 sqm of gallery space, creating room for touring exhibitions that boost the appeal and financial sustainability of the museum. The multi award-winning project was named RIBA South West Building of the Year in 2012.

Writing in the FT in his review of the 2011 project, the Architecture Critic Edwin Heathcote said: “Parry, one of the few British architects able comfortably to negotiate the territory between building for commerce and for the arts, has done what he set out to do – to re-establish a long-lost link between the Georgian city and the magical gardens, and to make a cluttered house into a real museum.”

Eric Parry Architects

Eric Parry Architects designs and creates high-quality, people-focused, sustainable buildings that enhance their surroundings. They listen closely to their clients’ ambitions and needs and collaborate to meet every project’s particular challenges with creative and imaginative responses. Architecture should engage with its context and interact with its surroundings to create delight, enjoyment, and well-being for its inhabitants.

The practice has worked on several cultural projects involving the refurbishment or upgrade of sensitive historic buildings. Examples include a significant new wing for the Holburne of Art in Bath, the restoration and renewal project for St Martin-in-the-Fields Church in Trafalgar Square, the significant upgrade to visitor facilities at the the London Charterhouse, a Music School and recital space at Brighton College, and the restoration and renovation of the Grade II* listed St John’s Church in Waterloo.

The international work of the practice includes private residential projects in Kuala Lumpur, the 164,000 sq m Kyobashi 3-Chome mixed-use development in Tokyo, and designs for the British Ambassadors’ Residence in Beijing.

www.ericparryarchitects.co.uk

Holburne Museum

The Holburne was founded in 1882 with the gift of Sir William Holburne’s collection of 16^th and 17^thcentury Italian and Dutch paintings, silver, sculpture, furniture, porcelain and diverse objets d’art of national and international significance. That founding gift has been augmented with a collection of 18^th-century paintings by such artists as Gainsborough, Lawrence, Ramsay, Stubbs and Zoffany.

Set within the historic Sydney Pleasure Gardens, the Museum undertook ambitious renovations in 2011 with an award-winning extension by Eric Parry Architects. The Holburne has since secured a national reputation as an outstanding museum which holds critically acclaimed exhibitions. Its programme of exhibitions, commissions and events sets out to bring to Bath great art of all periods and from around the world, seeking to set the art of the past in dialogue with contemporary practice in exciting and dynamic new ways.

www.holburne.org

About the new galleries
Around 90 items from the Schroder Collection will be displayed in a new gallery in the lower ground floor, taking inspiration from the great treasury displays of the past. As well as creating a new gallery space with full environmental controls, the museum is opening up more generous circulation space, with a new display area for additional works from the Holburne Collection.

On the first floor, a new public gallery will house the Schroder family’s collection of 17^th century painting.

Schroder collection

The Schroder family have led what is now Schroders plc since it was founded in London in 1804. The family collection was built up by the late Bruno Schroder and his forebears during the course of the last century, becoming one of the finest private collections of silverware in the country, as well as paintings, bronzes, maiolica and gems.

Items from the collection have very rarely been seen in public and never all together. We are very proud to be able to share them with audiences for the long-term future.

Photographs by Dirk Lindner

Holburne Museum Bath New Galleries Building information received 110925

Previously on e-architect:

22 Jun 2012

Design: Eric Parry Architects

photograph : Paul Riddle

Holburne Museum of Art

RIBA Awards winner in 2012

The Holburne Museum in Bath Award

12 May 2011

Holburne Museum Opening

The Holburne Museum Reopens

The Holburne Museum in Bath, one of the country’s most outstanding small museums, reopens to the public on Saturday 14 May 2011. The new museum is transformed by a £11.2m renovation project, which includes the restoration of its Grade I listed building and the construction of a striking new ceramic and glass extension by Eric Parry Architects.

photo : Paul Riddle