Charles Rennie Mackintosh

Charles Rennie Mackintosh

Charles Rennie Mackintosh (7
June 1868 – 10 December 1928)
was a Scottish architect, designer,
water colourist and artist.
He was a designer in the post
impressionist movement and also
the main representative of Art
Nouveau in the United Kingdom.
He had considerable influence on
European design.
 He was born in Glasgow and he
died in London.
Glasgow School of Art
 Glasgow School of Art
Location:Glasgow, Scotland
Date :1897 to 1909 
Building Type:college
Construction System : Load
bearing masonry
Style:Arts and Crafts, Art
Nouveau
West wing built second, from
1907 to 1909
 Glasgow School of Art
Charles Rennie Mackintosh won a
competition to design the Glasgow School of
Art, his first commission and most important
building.
 Sited at the edge of a steeply sloping south
facing hill, the building, an art school,
stretches along an entire block, facing a
major street to the north.
The building has an eclectic unity with
influences from Scottish baronial
architecture, volumetric masses of heavy
masonry, art nouveau motifs (floral and
geometric motifs in the iron work, tiles,
details) and modern materials and techniques
(large, industrial, braced windows).
Glasgow School of Art
The building plan is a long "E" with corridors along the
spine which link large art studios along the street side.
Smaller ancillary rooms and offices on the back side.
At the east and west ends are larger rooms, most
significantly the two story library on the west.
The entrance is located slightly off the center, up steps
from the street and leads to a toplit museum in the
back.
Glasgow School of Art
Glasgow School of Art
 Glasgow School of Art
The building massing and facades
reflect its context richly.
The north side, facing the major
street, presents a simple, horizontal
rectangular mass with large, industrial
windows which light the studios,
alternating with masonry piers.
This facade is set behind a stone and
iron railing, interrupted at the center
with an art nouveau iron arch under
which steps lead up to the asymmetric
composition of the entrance.
Glasgow School of Art
 Glasgow School of Art
In contrast the east and west facades
are narrow, tower like masonry walls
above the steeply sloping streets, into
which small paned metal windows
recall Scottish baronial architecture.
From the south on the back side, the
three arms of the "E" are clearly
revealed, and the masses make a varied
assemblage rising above the cityscape
of roofs below it.
 The museum skylight, a glazed gallery
connecting fourth floor studios are just
two elements of the lively composition
of the stuccoed walls.
Glasgow School of Art
The interiors were designed with equal emphasis in collaboration with
Margaret Macdonald.
Art nouveau floral and geometric motifs bring scale and color to the rooms
in details of mantlepieces, lighting fixtures, carpets, furniture, and crockery.
The library was redesigned and built later in 1906, a two story volume with
a mezzanine overlooking the first floor. A darkly finished wood structure
supports the mezzanine and ceiling.
 The pendant light fixtures, glass book cases, carved balusters, chairs and
work tables are all designed with art nouveau motifs, polychrome paint and
metal details.
Glasgow School of Art
Mackintosh used wrought iron to form structural decorative
features, and meticulously detailed every interior and exterior
aspect of the building.
The asymmetric facades of the four main elevations are each
distinctive, while the lofty spaces and excellent lighting of the
interior are carefully and most successfully designed.
In 1897 Mackintosh revised his design for the second phase
of the building, which includes the famous library.
His practice of making design alterations while construction
proceeded was consistent with his view that drawings
indicated an intentional design framework, and were not final
or immutable."
Mackintosh
HILL HOUSE
On a quiet residential street in the upper part of Helensburgh stands what
is widely believed to be one of the finest private houses built anywhere in
the world in the 20th Century.
The story of Hill House started when, in the early spring of 1902, the
publisher Walter Blackie and his wife Anna were looking for a new home
convenient for Glasgow. During their search they stumbled upon a site
in Helensburgh offering space for extensive gardens and excellent views
south over the town and the River Clyde.
HILL HOUSE
Blackie had strong views about how
the house should look.
He wanted grey slate rather than red
tiles for the roof, and decided on a grey
rough-cast finish for the exterior walls.
He also instructed his architect to avoid
all "adventitious ornament". 
Mackintosh's initial plans were not
accepted by Blackie, but before long
an agreed set of plans had been
produced and work was under way.
The plans drawn up
by Mackintosh extended to every detail
of the exterior and interior of the
house, and required that the Blackie
family discard much of their furniture
so Mackintosh could control that too.
HILL HOUSE
Compromises were made on both
sides.
 As Blackie's trust in his architect's
instincts grew, he allowed more and
more of the detailed ornamental
touches favoured by Mackintosh to
return.
 For his part Mackintosh allowed
his clients to retain some of their
furniture: in the dressing room he
even designed a mahogany
wardrobe to fit around a chest of
drawers from the family's existing
home in Dunblane.
HILL HOUSE
The main hall is wider, and
has a strongly rectangular
theme, with the shapes of
the windows being reflected
by the dark pine surrounds
of the wall panels, the space
being topped off by a
ceiling supported by
exposed dark wood beams.
Off to the left a superb
staircase climbs, turns
through 180 degrees on a
semicircular landing, then
climbs again to the upper
hall.
 HILL HOUSE
The drawing room is one of the brightest
and lightest rooms in the house.
A wide rectangular south facing bay window
draws in a great deal of light. The room has
been restored by the National Trust for
Scotland as it appears in photographs taken
when the house was first built.

Furnishing is fairly sparse, but

what is there is superb: and this
does allow the space to admire
the decoration. Above the
fireplace is "Sleeping Beauty",
a gesso panel Margaret
Macdonald designed for this
location.
HILL HOUSE
Hill House was completed late in 1903, well under two
years after the Blackies first found the site. At a short
ceremony Charles Rennie Mackintosh handed the
house over to the Blackies and their children. 
GARDERN OF HILL HOUSES
HILL HOUSE
On the one hand the exterior is
uncompromisingly modern, almost stark
and angular in some views, especially at
its west end.
 But on the other hand it also has striking
overtones of the traditional Scottish
tower house style of castle. The east end,
in particular, harks back to an earlier age,
especially through the use of what looks
for all the world like a circular stair
tower with a conical roof set within the
angle of an L-plan tower house.
The effect is emphasised by the small
circular gardener's hut, also with a
conical roof, carefully positioned nearby.
HILL HOUSE
HILL HOUSE

DINING FIRST FLOOR

BATHROOM
HILL HOUSE
The main entrance to Hill House is in the west gable, facing the main gate.
Immediately to the right of the entrance vestibule is a door leading into the
library.
This served as a room in which unexpected visitors were received: the rest
of the ground floor of the house is only accessible by climbing a flight of
four steps which seeks to emphasise the difference between the public
space of the library and the more private spaces beyond.
BEDROOM OF HILL HOUSE
HILL HOUSE
The library is an eminently
comfortable room, finished in
dark wood. Many of the
books on the shelves were
published by Blackie & Son
Limited and have covers
produced by Talwin Morris,
the man who recommended 
Mackintosh for the Hill
House commission.