Loggia Gallery

Founded in 1972 and located at 15 Buckingham Gate close as its name suggests to the Palace. It is the 'home' of the Free Painters & Sculptors group. This came about when Nina Hosali one of the founders of the Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad (SPANA) overheard a throwaway remark by a member of the Free Painters & Sculptors saying that they wished they had a gallery of their own. Hosali lived in the fiat on the top floor in Buckingham Gate and looked down on the attractive garden with its Victorian loggia. It was only used once a year when SPANA held its Annual General Meeting. She began to see the possibility of it being adapted for use as a gallery for the Group and approached the owners with the idea. Negotiations led to an agreement that there could be a gallery, but that it should not impede the normal daily business of SPANA. The opening times should be restricted to weekday evenings and weekends. The agreement also stipulated that the gallery and garden should be vacated for one week each year during July so that SPANA could hold its Annual General Meeting in the manner it had been used. Nina Hosali contacted John Ratcliff, who was not only a painter but was a distinguished architect. He had been Deputy Director of Architecture to Sir Hugh Casson for the Festival of Britain, 1951. He had also designed the 1958 British Pavilion in the Brussels International Exhibition, for which he was awarded a bronze medal. John Ratcliff was able to bring Nina Hosali’s dream to fruition, and the Loggia Gallery and Sculpture Garden opened on 11th July 1972.

The Gallery was intended for Members of the Free Painters & Sculptors and during its inaugural year, thirty-seven artists had one-person or shared exhibitions. Distinguished members and exhibitors have included Roy Rasmussen, Maurice Jadot, Denis Bowen, Roy Turner Durrant, Cliff Holden, Francis Souza, Halima Nalecz, Frank Avray Wilson, Roderic Barrett, Dorothy Bordass, Nina Hosali, Kathleen Guthrie, E. L. T. Mesens, Otway McCannell and Cecil Stephenson.