The Fitzwilliam Museum - University of Cambridge

64
Simon Sainsbury
‘Thank God for Simon’
Christ Church Spitalfields has long been recognised as one of Hawksmoor’s triumphs; a building
in which he combined the bookish classicism of Wren with his own imaginative and intuitive
vernacular to produce one of the great defining monuments of the English baroque. Yet for much
of the twentieth century it was neglected, a decaying remnant in post-war London which having
survived the blitz might well have fallen like St John Horselydown, to the post-war developers’
hammers. But the church was full and overflowing, in all of its pristine splendour, on a bright and
cold morning last November with a congregation gathered to pay tribute to the person who had
done more than anyone else to preserve it and to restore it to its former glory.
The Rt. Hon. Simon Sainsbury was one of the most
self-effacing of all benefactors. Even his closest
friends and those most directly touched by his
generosity had no idea of how far it extended into
other, diverse areas of interest. But the crowd which
assembled at his memorial service revealed by its
very presence the extraordinary range of his
philanthropy. Family and friends were joined by
representatives of the charitable bodies he supported,
from major museums and galleries to voluntary social
services providing sorely needed, humanitarian relief.
Although the name of his charitable foundation, The
Monument Trust, betrayed the importance he
attached, and the pleasure he took, in the
preservation of great buildings, Simon Sainsbury’s
interest in the environment was far wider than
architecture alone. Listening at that service to what
was only a partial catalogue of his involvement in
good causes, hardly any member of the congregation
was prepared for what they heard; after-school clubs
in Tower Hamlets; the London Lighthouse for HIV-
AIDS sufferers; the Racing Welfare Association;
studies on criminal sentencing; grants to bring
Eastern European curators to study in England; work
on diet and illness in prisons; support for cancer
clinics and engagement with housing schemes in the
North East, to name but a few. In each case, he gave
conviction and almost invariably, he insisted on
anonymity, even when his own contributions to a
particular project exceeded those of others who took
public credit for it.
In 2000 Simon Sainsbury became one of the first
major donors to the Courtyard Development. His
contribution of £1 million was timed to maximum
effect, but remained anonymous, as did his other
benefactions to the museum. Through the
Monument Trust he paid for the conservation of the
main entrance, a campaign in which he took a
delighted interest, donning a hard hat to climb up
on to the scaffolding to examine the work as it was
being carried out under the central dome. As the
Courtyard Development and all of the other
improvements to the museum neared completion,
we spoke about the re-opening ceremonies. His
offer to foot the bill carried the familiar stipulation
that he would not be identified as either host or
sponsor, although he insisted on choosing as well as
supplying all of the wines personally.
It was Neil MacGregor, speaking at the memorial
service, who recalled from his time as Director of
the National Gallery, Simon’s close involvement as
Chairman of the Trustees with the building of the
Sainsbury Wing. After what he described as ‘an
unusually edgy period’ in relations between client
and architect ‘when communication was conducted
essentially through drawings sent back and forth
across the Atlantic with more or less caustic
comments written on them,’ it was Simon’s
combination of firmness and tact which won the day.
‘He managed always to keep contact going and we
knew everything was going to be all right, indeed