Fears for ‘Gerry’s Pompeii’ as artworks taken from flat
THE legacy of a pensioner who built an “Aladdin’s Cave” of artworks in his social housing is under threat, neighbours fear, after his sculptures were removed during lockdown.
In October, The Telegraph revealed rock stars and museum bosses had joined forces to save Gerard Dalton’s private museum that became known as “Gerry’s Pompeii”.
Mr Dalton, an Irish immigrant who died last August aged 83, spent decades on his collection of models and replica buildings.
Elizabeth I, Jonathan Swift and Hercules are among those featured among 350 sculptures, 170 wall mounts and a 50m mural along the banks of the canal in Paddington.
Mr Dalton told his neighbours in his west London housing association flat: “They’ll be astonished by what they find in my garden in years to come. It’ll be like Pompeii or something.”
After his death, neighbours and members of the art establishment began planning how to save his work in the place where it was created. Among celebrities involved were Stephen Fry, Jarvis Cocker and Paloma Faith.
However, dozens of artefacts were removed over lockdown, leaving neighbours shocked and saddened.
The Sunday Telegraph understands relatives of Mr Dalton, who legally own the artefacts and were previously involved in the campaign, removed some sculptures and put them into storage.
Mr Dalton’s nephew, John Elliott, a Dublin-based lawyer, did not respond to a request for comment.
The campaign raised more than £300,000 to buy the flat and transform it into what would have been the UK’s first museum in social housing.
But his neighbours now fear his legacy may be under threat because funding pledges – and the value of the works themselves – are dependent on the work remaining in situ.
One neighbour said: “This is not what my dear friend Gerry would have wanted.”
Another added: “It would be terribly sad and a shocking waste, for the marvels of Gerry’s Pompeii to be swept away and forgotten.”