Ffotogallery at Turner House

Plymouth Road, Penarth CF64 3DH

Ffotogallery's exhibition programme and gallery based educational activities take place at Turner House.

General enquiries

Tel: 029 2070 8870
Email: turnerhouse @ ffotogallery.org

Opening times

Tuesday – Saturday 11am – 5pm (except for exhibition changeover times)

Admission free

Getting there

Ffotogallery, Turner House is situated opposite Penarth train station, by Alexandra Gardens. From Cardiff centre buses 92, 93 and 94 take you within 1 minute's walk of the gallery. Parking is available outside the gallery.

Access

Large print texts are available and guide dogs are welcome throughout the building. Please phone us on 029 2070 8870 if you require any assistance.

The National Museums and Galleries of Wales are in the process of upgrading the building in line with the Disability Discrimination Act 2004. In the meantime, only the ground floor gallery is accessible to wheel chair users. We will provide an update as soon as further information is available.

Books @ Turner House

Two or three times a year, Ffotogallery publishes substantial monographs, exhibition catalogues and artist's bookworks. A range of Ffotogallery publications and cards, are available for purchase from the gallery.

Ffotogallery Members are entitled to 25% discount on Ffotogallery publications and 10% discount on cards purchased from the gallery (on production of a valid membership card).

For more information about Ffotogallery publications, please see Publications.

Ffotogallery Members are entitled to 25% discount on Ffotogallery publications and 10% discount on cards purchased from the bookshop (on production of a valid membership card).

For more information about Ffotogallery publications, please see Publications

The History of Turner House

James Pyke Thompson, a wealthy Penarth resident conceived the idea of building Turner House Gallery, so named in homage to the painter, in 1888. Quite the philanthropist, Thompson used the gallery to further one of his social concerns; that the public should be able to view the contents of museums and galleries on the one day, Sunday, when they could be seen by the largest number of people. The Turner House thus became known as 'The Sunday Gallery'.

Originally the gallery was housed on the first floor of the building with the downstairs area being used for the custodian's accommodation. The gallery opened in June 1888 with the show consisting of work from Thompson's private collection. This included paintings by J.M.W Turner and Dante Gabriel Rossetti as well as some examples of porcelain.

Thompson continued to make acquisitions to his collection until his death in 1897. Without his support and enthusiasm however the gallery gradually lost the public's interest and attendance figures dwindled. In 1921 the Trustee's decided to hand over Turner House and its contents to the National Museum of Wales.

During the advent of World War II Turner House was requisitioned and used by the RAF for its 'Women's Section'. When the gallery was subsequently de-requisitioned in 1944 an Art Sub-Committee met to resolve the gallery's future. It was decided that Turner House would exhibit works from the National Museum's reserve collection and temporary exhibitions. The building was slightly structurally modified and re-opened in 1950, where it continued exhibiting shows organised by the National Museum until 2003, when Ffotogallery took over responsibility for programming and administering for a number of years.