The Butler Gallery’s new home is in the Evans Home, a former Almshouse. It is a dynamic cultural hub in the middle of Kilkenny, providing a variety of spaces for art, installations & sculpture both inside and out. The existing building has been sensitively restored and combined with contemporary interventions, in the form of two, two-storey contemporary bronze-anodised extensions to form an aggregate of the old and the new.

These extensions are connected to the restored 19th century almshouse through light-filled glazed passageways, and together form a seamless set of routes and spaces. The fine detail and material of the original Evans home contrasts with the simplicity of these new architectural insertions, whilst their common function inextricably connects them. The main section of the existing 1830s almshouse has been conserved in its essential character providing a large, climate controlled, temporary exhibition space to house a variety of visual art exhibitions. In contrast, naturally lit, climate controlled galleries in the original rooms house both the permanent collection and the bequest of Tony O’Malley.

The Butler Gallery opens up its walled garden to the city, providing a garden for art and sculpture, including a children’s garden a sensory garden and an exposition of the archaeology on the site. The building is connected to the sculpture garden through a series of bold geometric concrete ramps which twist through the history of the site.