Heritage
Heritage Consultancy
First opened to the public in 1893, the Grade I listed Harris Museum, Art Gallery & Library has been a home for world-class culture, exhibitions, and collections, and a cherished space for the local community, for over 125 years.
‘Harris Your Place’ is a £16million NLHF-funded project to restore and reimagine the Harris for 21st-century audiences as a community, cultural and learning space.
The Harris Your Place project is an evolution of the existing Art Gallery, Museum and Library to create an innovative environment that presents the various offers in a flexible, engaging and equitable manner. Working with the Grade I listed status of The Harris and its magnificent architecture created an opportunity to create something unique.
Key to achieving the aims of Harris Your Place was improvements to the permeability and accessibility of the building. The approach balanced sensitive conservation with essential modernisation. The design improves accessibility wherever possible, carries out critical repairs and enhances the flexibility of the galleries to better serve its community.
The architecture internally was celebrated, opening up the volumes of galleries and removing elements previously inserted that detracted from the significance of the building. Restoration and repair to the building fabric reversed issues of water ingress and improved future maintenance.
The proposals were thoroughly informed by the Conservation Plan produced by the Buttress Heritage Consultancy team. The plan outlined the history and significance of the Harris, and captures the issues and opportunities that face it. This was based on consultation with staff from across the organisation,
We undertook an update to the conservation plan, collaborating with students at UCLan to give them valuable experience and insight into the Heritage Consultant role. Alongside our team, students helped us to document the spaces within the museum and to collate the gazetteer. We also ran a series of workshops with staff across the museum, including curators, maintenance and administrative staff, to understand the challenges they face, and their aspirations for the building’s future.
“Being part of The Harris' transformation has been incredibly rewarding. It’s more than a building — it’s a symbol of Preston’s cultural heritage and future. This project ensures that everyone can access and enjoy the museum, library, and gallery in new, inclusive ways, while honouring the legacy that makes The Harris so special.”
Neal Charlton, Buttress director
Responding to the original
The Harris is a landmark, drawing visitors to Preston from far and wide. It sits on the edge of the Flag Market overlooking it with its raised plinth and imposing pediment and classic sculptures. The neo-classical design of the building reflects 19th century ideas and attitudes. The Victorians felt that if classical art and architecture were viewed by the public it would have an uplifting and moralising impact. Central to this are the simplicity, symmetry of plan, truthfulness of expression and refinement of detail.
The Harris Your Place project challenged Buttress to improve accessibility whilst respecting the intent and significance of the Grade I listed building. The external loggia to Lancaster Road is being repurposed to house the circulation core. Several options were investigated and consulted upon. The proposals created an infill with a fretwork finish. This was intended as a contemporary and complementary response to the original architecture. The internal remodelling allows for increased blending of museum, library and gallery spaces, creating additional facilities for children and young people and enabling more of the Harris' extensive collections to be displayed.
The new offer
The aim of the project was to provide an innovative environment in which museum, library and art gallery collections and services are fused to provide a flexible and community-led offer, allowing the Grade I listed building and its collections to be presented more effectively.
The Art Gallery, Museum, and Library spaces are presented with mixed-mode use for various spaces. Working closely with exhibition designers Ralph Applebaum Associates, the gallery cases and new interior fittings are bespoke designs that reference the classical proportions of the rooms and the architectural character of the building. The new offer also spills out of the galleries and into the main central space that rises through the four stories of the building to the lantern tower, activating the whole building.
A new café, shop and events spaces was created to increase income to support the future running of the Harris. There is a wide range of proposals to make the building more accessible, including a new Changing Places toilet.
A temporary gallery is created to GIS Standards, which improves the ability to host new and exciting exhibitions.
Foucault pendulum
The Foucault pendulum is a 35-metre pendulum that offers a glimpse into 19th-century scientific innovation. The Foucault pendulum, originally installed in 1909 and reinstated in 1992, demonstrates one of physics' most elegant proofs of Earth's rotation. As the heavy pendulum swings in a fixed direction relative to the stars, the Earth rotates beneath it, creating the illusion that the pendulum's plane of oscillation is shifting when viewed from the ground.
We introduced a new timber-framed glass roof-light at the centre of the building's roof. This intervention allowed the pendulum to be precisely rehung in the atrium's central axis. The pendulum now sits exactly in the centre, reaffirming the building's geometric accuracy and a testament to the original Victorian design of the building.
Neal Charlton
Neal leads Buttress' arts and culture team, with a focus on the restoration, care and adaptation of historic and listed buildings.
Samantha Knights
Samantha enjoys delivering design solutions for complex projects involving new build and heritage buildings, cultivating a confident and sensitive approach to design.
Jenna Johnston
Jenna leads Buttress’ heritage consultancy team, providing clients with the resources and knowledge they need to better understand their heritage assets.