Update 14 April: According to local news agency Mada Masr, demolition of the building was halted for a second time on 13 April pending a final decision on its safety. A committee has inspected the remaining parts of the building and an official report has been issued to the office of Cairo's governor stating that the building should be restored. The demolition of the building has now been stopped.
On 9 April, three days after the Townhouse Gallery building partially collapsed, government authorities ordered the rest of the building to be demolished and ordered all residents to leave. The evacuation was halted on the morning of 10 April after a representative from The National Organization for Urban Harmony intervened and began procedures to investigate the space’s potential as a listed building. But despite this, eyewitness reports claim that heavily armed security forces began demolishing the building on 11 April. On its Facebook page Townhouse Gallery wrote on 12 April: "We announce with great regret that the main building located at 10 Nabrawy street is no longer inhabited by the Townhouse gallery, as it is currently under demolition […] It is important to remember that it is not only Townhouse that has been impacted by the events of this week, but an entire neighbourhood and its community. There will be daily updates on the situation as it unravels."
The main building of Cairo’s leading contemporary art venue, Townhouse Gallery, partially collapsed yesterday, 6 April. The collapse of the five-storey 1890s building has destroyed the recently renovated Townhouse Library, the first-floor gallery extension, and some administrative offices. Nobody was injured. The neighbouring organisation Cairo Hacker Space, an open source community workspace for engineers, designers, and artists, and their equipment was completely destroyed.
In a statement on Facebook Townhouse Gallery wrote that it is “working closely with the other tenants and neighbours, as well as engineers from the municipality, our own engineers and the owner of the building to examine the possible options, to secure the safety and potential future of the building itself.” In the meantime, staff at the non-profit gallery will move into the gallery’s Factory Space—a converted paper factory that is normally used as a multi-disciplinary space for exhibitions, film screenings and workshops.
It is another set back for the gallery, which has been struggling to reopen since Egyptian authorities closed it down in December 2015 amid a cultural clampdown. The gallery was due to fully resume its activities on 4 April but due to “further administrative difficulties,” its main exhibition space remained shut, says the space’s director William Wells. He adds that Townhouse West, an affiliated art space in the satellite city of New Cairo that opened in July 2015, has closed permanently due to the withdrawal of funding from its supporters SODIC, a real estate company.
Despite its growing issues, the gallery hopes that its Rawabet Theatre will reopen on 16 April with a full schedule of performances. Speaking before the building’s collapse Wells remained positive about Townhouse Gallery’s future, saying that its new programming will be more critical than ever. “We are using this [closure] as an opportunity—we have this space and time to really rethink the role of the institution that we didn’t have before. We will be raising a lot more questions,” he says.
