Gallery Delta’s formative years were at Strachan’s building in Manica Road from 1975, where under the patronage of Derek Huggins and Helen Lieros, the gallery promoted contemporary paintings, graphics, textiles and ceramics whilst most of the contemporary art scene concentrated on Shona sculpture. The Gallery also served as an alternative venue for changing art exhibitions, multiracial theatre and jazz performances during the tense environment prior to Independence in 1980.

The birth of African contemporary painting was very slow, as there were few facilities for serious art study and most African artists were stone sculptors, or wood carvers. Slowly, however, the established artists such as Marshall Baron, Robert Paul, Arthur Azevedo, Helen Lieros, Henry Thompson, Thakor Patel, Stephen Williams, Rashid Jogee, Simon Back, Berry Bickle, Richard Jack, Gerry Dixon and others began to be joined by a new generation of African artists at the end of the 1980’s with the encouragement of Christopher Till, the then Director of the National Gallery, the BAT workshop and Gallery Delta. They included Luis Meque, George Churu and Richard Witikani, in the 1990's they were joined by Shepherd Mahufe, Hilary Kashiri, Fasoni Sibanda, Ishmael Wilfred, James Jali, Hilary Kashiri and Lovemore Kambudzi, who emerged through the annual 'Young Artists' and group exhibitions

In 1991, Colette Wiles offered the old, dilapidated, and in part derelict house at 110 Livingstone Avenue, which had been the home of her father, the painter Robert Paul, for nearly forty years until his death in 1980, as the new venue for the Gallery Delta. The house was built in 1894 and lays claim to being one of the oldest surviving buildings in Harare. Its conservation involved a two year project, from 1991 to late 1993, to repair and restore it to its original appearance, and to build an adjoining amphitheatre, all of which was undertaken and completed by Gallery Delta with the help of Peter Jackson architect, and many loyal friends and supporters.