This page is dedicated to the architecture of Charles Rennie Mackintosh in his home city of Glasgow, where he lived and worked in the years surrounding the dawning of the twentieth century.
Charles Rennie Mackintosh
His novel architectural creations in Glasgow were all completed before his 40th birthday. He devoted his later years to interior design, furniture and visual art. Like Mackintosh's architecture, his works of art are exceptional in their sheer originality.
Glasgow Herald Building
The very narrow Mitchell Street was the home of the Glasgow Herald newspaper from 1895 until 1980 when new publishing practices created a requirement for more modern premises. My Lighthouse Photograph Album shows both external and internal views of the building.
In the 1960's I was familiar with the Editorial Department, Case Room and Wire Room when I worked as a copy boy for the Evening Times. My memories of the place are of grumpy old men surrounded by varnished wood, formica and linoleum, rather than Art-Noveau or anything even vaguely influenced by Mackintosh. The Editor of the Evening Times at that time was the formidable S.L. "Sam" McKinlay and the Sports Editor was Jimmy Dunbar. On Saturdays Jimmy relied on the wee copy boys running around in a frenzy, so that he could get the "Pink Times" out on the streets by 5 o'clock with all the latest football results.
Details of Glasgow Herald towers from architect's blueprints
A floor plan of the despatch area of the newspaper plant can be viewed here.
Daily Record Building
The Daily Record Printing Works in Renfield Lane has a frontage finished with white glazed bricks with contrasting blue brickwork over the sculpted sandstone ground floor. It was completed in 1904, nearly a decade after the Glasgow Herald Building with which it has some similarities at the top storey level. Looking upwards at Daily Record Building, Renfield Lane
John Keppie
Mackintosh worked closely with his firm's senior partner, John Keppie (above), in the specialised and complex design of these newspaper production plants. Contemporary sources credit Keppie as the architect rather than recognising the up-and-coming talent of Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
The blueprints showing the sections and construction details of the Glasgow Herald Building are signed "John Honeyman and Keppie, Archts" The motifs in the decorated stonework in the Glasgow Herald Building (above) do not demonstrate the typical Mackintosh patterns as seen later in the Glasgow School of Art (below).
Glasgow School of Art, North Façade
Glasgow School of Art, situated on a steep hill leading down to Sauchiehall Street, is one of the few Art-Noveau buildings in Glasgow, displaying a style influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement of the late 19th century.
The west wing (left) and east wing (right) of the Glasgow School of Art
are situated on a steep hill running down towards Sauchiehall Street, sloping away from the main north-facing façade which fronts Renfrew Street. Detail from front entrance of Glasgow School of Art
You can view further photographs in my Glasgow School of Art Photograph Album .
Willow Tearooms
The striking façade of the Willow tearooms on the south side of Sauchiehall Street was added by Mackintosh to an existing multi-storey commercial building in 1904. The highly original and stylish frontage has retained its freshness a century later with a timeless modernity.
Scotland Street School
Glasgow's circular subway system will take you from the city centre to Scotland Street School, which is near to Shields Road station.
When Glasgow was the European capital of Culture in 1990, funding was found to restore the building to the original Rennie Mackintosh designs for both interior and exterior decoration.
It has served as Glasgow's Museum of Education since 12th December 1990, and currently features period classrooms, exhibition space and an audio visual theatre. Detail from infants entrance of Scotland Street School
House for an Art Lover, Bellahouston Park
Also on the city's south side you can visit the House for an Art Lover which Mackintosh designed in 1901 for a competition entry. It was never built in his lifetime but his vision was realised in the closing years of the century when the house was built within Bellahouston Park, opening to the public in 1996.
Detail from south façade of House for an Art Lover
Queens Cross Church
Mackintosh's Queen's Cross Church, situated close to the Partick Thistle football ground in the north of the city, now serves as headquarters of the
Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society. You can view further photographs in my Queen's Cross Church Photograph Album .
Ruchill Free Church Halls
Mackintosh's only other ecclesiastical work was the Ruchill Free Church Halls which were completed in 1899.
Doorway at Glasgow Herald Building
Thomson meets Mackintosh - Mitchell Library, Glasgow, August & September 2007
Visitors to Glasgow during August and September 2007, touring around the many Mackintosh attractions, were able to visit my Thomson meets Mackintosh exhibition at the Mitchell Library (above).
The exhibition highlighted the work of the city's two best known architects.
Glasgow & Edinburgh Architecture
Charles Rennie Mackintosh was born in 1868 in Parson Street, Townhead, Glasgow, where his Martyrs Public School (left) still stands.
The lower floors were used as production space where the newspapers where dispatched from platforms open to the street.
The upper floors, which have less of an industrial feel about them, were used for the editorial and commercial side of the operation.
When Glasgow was awarded the title "UK city of Architecture
1999", the block was altered and extended to create a modern Architecture and Design centre, the Lighthouse.
As a working newspaper plant, the premises had been altered at various stages throughout the 20th century; as a result there were very few, if any, period furnishings to retain for its restoration.
The view shown above could never be seen in reality as the lane is a mere 6 metres wide. No satisfactory viewing point can be reached to get a good look at Mackintosh's design intentions. The façade's originality was enhanced by the use of full height tree motifs placed between the bays. Mackintosh created these symbols by the simple use of red and green bricks.
When the Daily Record vacated the building in the late 1930's it was used as a clothing manufacturing workshop by R.W. Forsyth who were Glasgow's premier outfitters at the time. Forsyth's occupied a large shop in nearby Renfield Street.
The building is currently owned by Scottish Mutual Assurance who housed their computer systems there from 1984 to 1997 when it became unoccupied. There is a bridge at second floor level, at the rear of the premises, which allowed access to Scottish Mutual's main offices in St Vincent Street.
There were plans in 1999 to create a nightclub within the empty shell but these had to be abandoned due to the costs involved. In March 2006, Glasgow City Council gave permission to create a café bar and live music venue within the building so it may yet come back into use.
It is generally accepted that Keppie was comfortable in allowing Mackintosh to carry out most of the design work for these important commissions. How much influence Keppie had in Mackintosh's sources of inspiration is, however, difficult to estimate.
The alterations to the Glasgow Herald Building following the First World War and the block's 1927 refurbishment are solely credited to John Keppie, having taken place after Mackintosh had left the firm in 1913.
Mackintosh had submitted his designs for the competition in 1895 and was successful in becoming the winning entrant when the result was announced in early 1897. Funding limitatations meant that the building was erected in stages between 1897 and 1909.
Glasgow School of Art still demonstrates a freshness of style and presents a fascinating insight into turn of the century modernism.
Both internally and externally, Mackintosh skillfully managed to combine the elements of architecture and interior design to produce a stunning result.
The subtle effect of the bowed windows (below) creates a 3-dimensional shop front different from any other, either modern or old, in Glasgow's premier shopping street.
Miss Catherine Cranston (left), a
Victorian lady with a remarkable flair for business, was a pioneer of the tearoom movement which featured greatly in Glasgow's social life at the turn of the
century. The luncheon rooms and tearooms which carried her name were well known to
most Glasgow citizens, demonstrating her refined taste in the fixtures and
fittings as well as the decor.
The building is of a most imaginative design which would have been ultra-modern for its day. It features twin towers infilled with leaded glass which at night twinkles in the lights of the nearby M8 motorway. Both the stonework and interior decoration show Mackintosh's genius with a novel style which is entirely his own.
The Reverend Alexander Simpson, Convenor of the School Board of Glasgow, formally opened the school on 5th October 1906. It remained in use until 1979, when it had to close as there were not enough pupils to continue in operation.
You can view my Scotland Street School Photograph Album here.
You can see interior and exterior photographs of this building in my House for an Art Lover Photograph Album .
The architecture is difficult to categorise and once again illustrates Mackintosh's unique design skills with beautiful Art Nouveau detailing both outside and inside the church. He was responsible for the spectacular interior decoration and fittings as well as the exterior, illustrated above.
A £1 million refurbishment was completed in February 2007, ready for the former church's re-opening to the public on 5th March.
Because of the requirements of the clients, this little building is more conservative than some of his later more modernistic designs. It shows traditional Scottish influences embellished with the individualistic touches which you expect from CRM.
Significantly, the Free Church did not ask Mackintosh to design the adjacent church building.
Scotland Street
School - Photograph album
Glasgow School of Art -
Photograph album
Queen's Cross Church -
Photograph album
House for an Art Lover -
Photograph album
Willow Tearooms -
Photograph album
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Site created and maintained by Gerry Blaikie
Unauthorised reproduction of any image on this website is not permitted.
All original artwork and text Copyright© G.Blaikie 2002-2008.
