Art dealer John Martin is leading the project and plans have been submitted to redevelop the Grade II listed terrace of five townhouses into art galleries and exhibition space.
A number of art industry figures have backed the plans including Nic McElhatton, chairman of Christie’s South Kensington, the Society of London Art Dealers and Russia’s Hermitage Museum.
The project is due to go before council planners on Tuesday, February 7.
The scheme, called Cromwell Place, will include offices, viewing rooms, art storage and sixteen exhibition spaces varying in size at up to 3000 square feet.
Virginia Sykes-Wright of Asian Art in London, said: “I cannot stress how important it is both to the arts and to London as a city, to facilitate both the exhibiting of exciting new and established works of art, together with the education of the general public.”
'Imaginative Project'
Dealer Clovis Whitfield of Whitfield Fine Art said: “This is an imaginative project that could give an identity to a lot of disparate galleries in west London.”
Geraldine Norman from The State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg in Russia said the museum is “very interested in the opportunity this development offers for holding high level exhibitions in central London”.
Applications for membership will be available in May and if it gets planning permission it hopes to open by 2019.
The project is a joint venture between Martin, property advisers CWM, and South Kensington Estates, which owns the properties. Consultant Gerald Eve is managing the planning process.
Art dealer Oliver Hoare believes the scheme will help South Kensington “swing again” and support also came from the Saatchi Gallery and the Royal British Society of Sculptors.
