The gallery, which has resided in Clifford Street in Mayfair for six decades, will open its new space at 6 Duke Street in April.
The decision to relocate comes after the gallery and its landlord, The Pollen Estate, failed to agree the terms of a new lease, which was up for renewal in September.
“The Pollen Estate would not move on the headline rent,” said proprietor Rupert Maas. “It was our only chance to avoid being effectively held to premises – premises that we have been in for 60 years – and paying what we didn’t think was a market price.”
West End optimism
The move follows a clutch of other West End dealerships, including Shapero and Panter & Hall, that have recently committed to new or larger premises. It is a clear sign the trade is optimistic about the future of central London after the pandemic.
“When we are ahead with the vaccine, I think London is very well placed to be at the front of a market renaissance. Dealers have a backlog of new purchases over the last 18 months they have not shown publicly,” said Maas.
The gallery hopes to hold its first exhibition at the new premises in May or June this year.
Art heritage
It will not be the first time the Duke Street space has been used to sell Victorian art. Roy Miles, the flamboyant Mayfair art dealer and a great promoter of the genre, ran a gallery here in the 1970s.
He was followed in the 1980s by gallery Whitford and Hughes. Its memorable 1984 exhibition, Peintres de L’ame, included Lawrence Alma-Tadema’s famous painting The Roses of Heliogabalus.
