Walker Art Gallery

The Walker Art Gallery holds a facade of imposing Corinthian columns topped by stone statues of celebrated artists like Raphael and Michelangelo. It opened in eighteen seventy-seven, funded by Andrew Barclay Walker, a local brewer who served as mayor. During the Second World War, the building stored the national art collection for safekeeping because the government considered it the safest place in the country. A single incendiary bomb once fell through the roof, but a member of the staff extinguished the flames quickly.