TATE St IVES


TATE St IVES

The Building

Introduction

Tate St Ives
Tate St Ives
© Tate

Tate St Ives opened in 1993 and occupies a spectacular site overlooking Porthmeor Beach close to the home of Alfred Wallis and to the studios used by many of the artists whose works are exhibited. It is designed to show works of art in the surroundings and atmosphere in which they were created.

The was site of a former gasworks on the northern edge of the 'downalong' district of St Ives, the heart of the town's traditional fishing community (by contrast, the 'upalong' district grew up on the higher slopes of the town from the late nineteenth century, providing spacious terraced housing for the more prosperous families and the growing number of tourists).

The architects Eldred Evans and David Shalev have described themselves as 'single-minded modernists with the conviction that a building, built to last, is rooted in time and place'.
They adopted two basic forms for the gallery that echo those on the original site: a glazed rotunda which forms the focus of the building, echoing the base of the demolished gas-holder, and a steep-sided rectangular form that relates to earlier post-war buildings along Porthmeor Beach. Some important themes in their design can be appreciated as you pass through the building - the relationship between the interior space and views of the landscape and sea outside and echoes of the topography of St Ives itself, with its network of streets, small squares and steep alleys.

The three storey building backs directly into the cliff face, with a dramatic 50ft drop from cliff-top to beach. The rooftop restaurant has views extending over the rooftops of the town and its harbour out to sea, along the horizon from Clodgy Point over St Ives Bay to the Godrevy Lighthouse.

When the gallery is approached from the harbour area of St Ives, the first view of it from Back Road West suggests a building growing naturally out of the clusters of houses around it. The Porthmeor Beach elevation and the interior detailing, however, reflect the modernist tradition central to the art of St Ives, with interrelated geometric forms, white walls and simple wood and slate finishes. The architects have said that they hope that a visit to the Gallery will feel like an extension of visiting the town itself: 'You can see the landscape at the same time as the painters' visions of it' says Eldred Evans. 'The plan of the Gallery', she says 'is reminiscent of a Ben Nicholson painting'.