S. H. Ervin Gallery, Art gallery in Observatory Hill, Sydney, Australia

The S. H. Ervin Gallery occupies the 1856 building designed by Henry Robertson for the Fort Street School, later the Fort Street Girls' School, in Observatory Park. Its curved interior gallery has white-painted brick walls, a dark grey floor, tall rectangular windows with white blinds, two white fluted columns and a dark tufted bench. Four framed works hang on the walls, and a green illuminated exit sign sits high on the right wall.

The building was constructed in 1856 as classrooms for Fort Street School and converted to a public art gallery in 1978 through funding from Samuel Henry Ervin. This repurposing marked the shift from an educational facility to a cultural institution focused on Australian art.

The gallery presents rotating exhibitions of Australian art and hosts the annual Salon des Refusés, displaying works rejected from the Archibald Prize competition. This exhibition has become an important platform for artists whose work was overlooked by mainstream competitions.

The gallery occupies the 1856 former Fort Street School building in Observatory Park, reached by walking up Observatory Hill from the Rocks or Millers Point. The entrance is off the park, and the exhibition rooms are on the upper floor of the National Trust Centre. Allow time to walk between the gallery and nearby Circular Quay or Wynyard transport.

The gallery opened in May 1978 with an exhibition by Conrad Martens, the colonial-era painter. Its name honours Samuel Henry Ervin, a philanthropist and collector whose bequest in the early 1970s funded a public gallery for Australian art. Since 2018 it has administered the Evelyn Chapman Art Award.