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The Peak of His Powers
The Glasgow School of Art is regarded as Mackintosh's architectural masterpiece where he gives full expression to his architectural ideals. The school was built in two phases - the East Wing (1897-1899) and the West Wing (1907-1909).
In 1900, Charles Rennie Mackintosh married Margaret Macdonald and by 1901 Mackintosh had become a partner of Honeyman and Keppie. That same year Charles and Margaret entered a competition in a German design magazine to design a 'House for an Art Lover'.
Whilst their entry was disqualified from the competition on the grounds of late submission, the designs were awarded a special prize for "their pronounced personal quality, their novel and austere form and the uniform configuration of interior and exterior."
For almost one hundred years the portfolio of designs for the House remained just that until, in 1988, a Glasgow civil engineer, Graham Roxburgh, had the idea of constructing the Art Lover’s House within the city’s Bellahouston Park. This was completed in 1996.
In 1900, Charles Rennie Mackintosh married Margaret Macdonald and by 1901 Mackintosh had become a partner of Honeyman and Keppie. That same year Charles and Margaret entered a competition in a German design magazine to design a 'House for an Art Lover'.
Whilst their entry was disqualified from the competition on the grounds of late submission, the designs were awarded a special prize for "their pronounced personal quality, their novel and austere form and the uniform configuration of interior and exterior."
For almost one hundred years the portfolio of designs for the House remained just that until, in 1988, a Glasgow civil engineer, Graham Roxburgh, had the idea of constructing the Art Lover’s House within the city’s Bellahouston Park. This was completed in 1996.
| In 1902 Mackintosh received another significant commission when he was asked to design The Hill House in Helensburgh for Glasgow publisher Walter Blackie. Mackintosh designed not only the house and garden, which was completed in 1904, but also much of the furniture and all the interior fittings and decorative schemes. Margaret contributed fabric designs and a unique gesso overmantel. Today The Hill House is in the care of the National Trust for Scotland, and a visit is a must for anyone who wishes to see Mackintosh's domestic masterpiece. Kate Cranston, a local Glasgow businesswoman, came up with the idea for a series of 'art tearooms' and approached Mackintosh to assist the architect and designer George Walton on her new premises in Buchanan Street. The success of the tearoom forged a relationship between Cranston and Mackintosh, which was to last twenty years. Between 1897 and 1917 he designed or restyled rooms in all four of her Glasgow tearoom establishments. Today tea and light meals are still served in The Willow Tea Rooms in Sauchiehall Street. Scotland Street School (1904 - 1907) was one of Mackintosh's last commissions in Glasgow. The mature architect is in evidence here with the unexpected decoration and the extraordinary daring precision of masonry and glass as they fly up towards their conical slate hats. The principal interiors of 6 Florentine Terrace, home of the Mackintoshes from 1906 to 1914, have been meticulously reconstructed within the Hunterian Art Gallery at the University of Glasgow. | |
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