Guild Hall Gallery

Guild Hall Gallery opened at 614 Duval Street in 1976, when three young Key West businessmen bought the building as part of the Downtown ‘76 renovation effort, and it has been in that same building ever since. It turned fifty in March 2026, which makes it one of the longest-running art galleries on Duval and one of very few still operating where it started.

In 1980 the building was bought by seven women artists. It is now co-owned by Ann Irvine, a founding member of the gallery who paints watercolors and makes prints of Key West’s landmark buildings and its fly fishing boats, and her husband Ron Van Balen.

The way the place works is unusual and worth understanding before you walk in. The building holds 27 individual stalls across two floors, each rented by a local artist who keeps the full proceeds of every sale and sets their own prices. There is no house cut. In exchange, every artist is required to work five hours a week in the gallery, which has the effect of guaranteeing that all 27 of them live in Key West rather than shipping work in from elsewhere. On most visits you will be talking to one of the artists.

The work spans a lot of ground. Lynne Fischer, who manages the gallery, paints Key West’s conch cottages in oil. Jack Loudon shoots award-winning photography, including roseate spoonbills. Fran Decker paints Key West’s current events. Kelly Shaurette makes deliberately small canvases, sized to fit in a suitcase. Poochie Myers paints. Elsewhere in the building there is handmade coastal-themed jewelry and picture frames built from retired lobster traps.

If something is too large to carry, the gallery ships, across the United States and sometimes beyond. Hours run into the evening on weekdays, which makes it a reasonable stop after dinner, though it is worth checking the weekend hours before you go.