Mercer Art Gallery

About the museum

The building was put up as the Promenade Rooms for visitors to the Harrogate spa and was paid for by local doctors. Over the following decades it served as a reading room and library, an assembly room and, from 1882 to 1990, a theatre. The architect Arthur Hiscoe rebuilt it in 1874–1876 and added the western façade, and it is now a Grade II listed building.

The town’s art collection began in 1930, when the Harrogate Fine Art Collection opened above the public library. It later spent years in storage, and part of it was damaged by a flood in the 1980s. After a public appeal, the former Old Town Hall was converted into a gallery, which opened on 30 April 1991. It is named after the watercolourist Sidney Agnew Mercer, whose sons made a large donation towards the project.

Today the gallery holds around 2,000 works, mainly British painting and drawing from the 19th century to the present, and it also cares for a local-history archive left by the Harrogate historian Malcolm Neesam. It is run by North Yorkshire Council with the support of a Friends group.

Highlights

• About 2,000 works, mainly British art from the 19th to the 21st century
• Historic building that began as the Promenade Rooms of the spa town
• Free entry
• Walker Neesam Archive on Harrogate’s local history

Founded

1991

Operated by

North Yorkshire Council

Admission & discounts

Admission is free.

Entry is free; the council suggests a voluntary donation of £5 towards future exhibitions.

Accessibility

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Kids & families

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Getting there & parking

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Amenities & dining

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Events & venue rental

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