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If Gallery House were a person, she would probably be an elegant Palo Alto native in her mid-60s, with exquisite taste in art, busy packing her prized paintings, preparing to shift to her new place in Menlo Park. Having moved several times in the past — most memorably, to Ramona Street in downtown Palo Alto early in life and to the present California Avenue location where she spent the last 23 years — the hassle of moving would likely be eclipsed by the excitement of embracing a whole new community of like-minded people. And of course, she’d be grateful for the generous helping hand of her talented friend Peter Koltai, during this challenging time.
Cooperative fine art establishment Gallery House, which has been in Palo Alto for 65 years, is all set to move from Palo Alto’s California Avenue to Menlo Park’s Santa Cruz Avenue, by May 1.
Koltai, who is a retired pediatric surgeon and emeritus professor at Stanford University, has been a member of the gallery for about a year now. He took over as chair recently, a title that brought with it the responsibility of finding a new location for it, after the gallery lost its lease following the sale of the building it’s housed in.
“I spent time looking at real estate, sampling various downtowns of the Peninsula,” said Koltai, who landed the current location on Santa Cruz Avenue, Menlo Park after a thorough search.
He started looking for places on Castro Street in Mountain View, then on Main Street and State Street in Los Altos, then on University Avenue and California Avenue in Palo Alto, then down Broadway in Redwood City and Laurel Street in San Carlos.
“We faced an existential dead-end,” he said about the bittersweet process. “The mood in the gallery was very down. We didn’t see a possibility.”
Finally, through one of the members of the gallery, he got in touch with the owner of a store on Santa Cruz Avenue in Menlo Park.
“He seemed very congenial to having us in his space,” he said. “We were fortunate enough to find something we could afford.”
The new space, which is a little smaller than the current one, is being renovated, ahead of the shift. The current space will be vacated by Easter Sunday, March 31. A farewell reception was held at the gallery on March 8.
Visitors gather at a March 8 reception to say farewell to Gallery House’s current location and mark the gallery’s planned move to a new space in Menlo Park. “A New Space Odyssey” was theme for the event, which featured space-inspired decorations. Photo by Heather Zimmerman. 
Gallery House held a reception on March 8 to say goodbye to its space on California Avenue in Palo Alto. The co-op gallery lost its lease and plans to make a move to Menlo Park after 65 years in Palo Alto. The gallery moved to its current location around the year 2000. Photo by Heather Zimmerman. 
The exterior of Gallery House’s current location at 320 California Ave. in Palo Alto that it shares with Printers Cafe and Moods Wine Bar. The gallery, along with the cafe and wine bar, lost their leases. Photo by Heather Zimmerman.
While Koltai dealt with the commercial and legal formalities of finalizing a new space, Karen Cox, the artist from whom he took over his current responsibilities, held fort at the gallery. “She’s been enormously helpful,” he said.
Koltai, an artist himself, is cognizant of the gallery’s rich history that goes back to a time when mimeograph paper was still in use. Gallery House was co-founded in 1958 by the late Edith Sommer and the late Estelle Grunewald. The gallery’s first location was inside the home of Mary Field on Staunton Court in Palo Alto; art was displayed in her living room and on her porch. That’s why it’s called Gallery House. Subsequently, the gallery moved to University Avenue and Cowper Street in Palo Alto, then to the Ladera Country Shopper Center in Portola Valley, then to Ramona Street in Palo Alto and finally to California Avenue.
It has survived many a lean phase, most recently, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s been through several crises, where they had to figure out the next step,” he said.
While looking for a space, Koltai was clear about the main criterion. “The must-have was having a storefront,” he said. Currently, the gallery is behind Printer’s Cafe. “So having a storefront in the most prominent downtown in the area is huge for us.”
The new location at Santa Cruz Avenue is across the street from Main Gallery. “This is a huge benefit potentially,” he said. “We’ve also been in touch with the Menlo Park Design District; we’re going to get the gallery listed.”
Presently, 22 artists comprise the membership of Gallery House. The work on display is primarily two-dimensional, including paintings, prints and photography. Some sculpture and jewelry is in the mix as well.
In the coming days, Koltai hopes to take the total number of members to about 32 and include more three-dimensional artwork, like sculptures. He’s also looking to get more international membership from Zimbabwe, a region he has deep ties to, thanks to his past medical work.
He’s also looking to collaborate with local high schools and colleges in Menlo Park and maybe display art by young promising students.
“One of our goals is to bring in younger artists and a diverse group who might have a broader view of what art is,” he said.
He’s particularly appreciative of Menlo Park’s existing art culture, evidenced by the presence of several art galleries, rug galleries and furniture galleries in the city. “Menlo Park has valued art for many years,” he said. “The opportunity to show art and have people coming to look for art is terrific.”
‘Menlo Park has valued art for many years. The opportunity to show art and have people coming to look for art is terrific.’
Gallery House Chair Peter Koltai
Koltai has been making art since he was a little boy. While he pursued a career as a children’s head and neck surgeon — and published several medical illustrations along the way — he nursed his passion for painting on the side and finally started taking formal art lessons in 2016.
The logical outcome was to sell the work that had started to accumulate in his house. “There’s only so many walls to hang them on,” he said. And that’s when he decided to submit his work to Gallery House, a place that went on to become his post-retirement passion.
His plans for the gallery are simple. “Make art, sell art, be part of the community and not be worried about paying the rent,” he said, acutely aware that this is so much more than just a change in address. “The potential to enhance the existing layer of culture, to become part of it and to learn from Menlo Park is the goal.”
What is the new address for the Palo Alto Gallery House?
Hi Dana, the lease is not finalized yet so they’re not disclosing the address just yet!