Panorama de la Côte Vermeille depuis la tour de Madeloc. Vue sur Argelès-sur-Mer, Collioure, Port-Vendres et Banyuls-sur-Mer. Wikipedia

Margaret MacDonald is my spirit key. My other half. She is more than half – she is three quarters – of all I’ve done. We chose each other and each gave to the other what the other lacked. Her hand was always in mine. If I had the heart, she had the head. Oh, I had the talent but she had the genius. We made a pair. (Charles Rennie Mackintosh)

Here, under the sunny skies of one of the nicest regions of France, in a last and tearing adieu to the beloved companion with whom she had shared a lifelong passion for art, Margaret MacDonald dispersed the ashes of Charles Rennie Mackintosh … here both artists had probably shared some of their happiest days, five years only but which were full of life and creativity.

Strangely enough, Mackintosh’s very nice watercolours which are the fruit of this period of happiness and which testify to his talent as a painter did not always get the recognition they deserved, his architectural and design masterpieces being better known than his paintings. But things are changing…

What has been done in Glasgow to celebrate the memory of Charles Rennie Mackintosh is now being done in Roussillon, France, where the Scottish artist spent the last years of his life. In 2004, an association was formed ” initially to organise an exhibition for the celebration of the centenary of the Entente Cordiale in Roussillon. Subsequently it has engaged in a programme to increase awareness of the life and work of CRM and in the spirit of Mackintosh to encourage and to pioneer cross-cultural exchange initiatives. The association is administered by an elected committee and has a French and a Scottish president. It is affiliated with the CRM Society in Glasgow.”

The ‘Chemin de Mackintosh’ was also inaugurated in 2004 with the Lord Provost of Glasgow, Liz Cameron, and Lord Steel. In 2006,  Monsieur Mackintosh, a very interesting biographical book, written by Robin Crichton, was published. I’ve just finished it and I’m eager to follow the Mackintosh trail with my fellow-travellers,  hoping to do it soon with a pocket version of the book in my hand

Monsieur Mackintosh Robin Crichton Luath Press Limited Edinburgh 2006 bilingual edition

In the introduction of his book, published in a bilingual form, Robin Crichton explains that the aim of the Charles Rennie Mackintosh  project is to create a permanent exhibition of Mackintosh’s work in the Pyrénées Orientales, to establish a programme of Franco-Scottish cultural exchange and to draw up a Mackintosh Trail placing reproductions of Mackintosh’s paintings in situ and a permanent exhibition in three  episodes recounting the story of his life :

-    in the valley of the Tech
-    on the Côte Vermeille
-    in the valley of the Têt

This book literally carries the reader along Mackintosh Trail. It can be read as a lively biographical story, as a book about Mackintosh’s art and also as a fascinating travel book. It’s remarkably well documented and illustrated. I’ve learned a lot of things in it, not only about the Mackintoshes but also about my own country. It contains many pictures, black and white and colour ones, as well as the reproductions of most Mackintosh’s watercolours, about 40 of them having been listed to this day. The quotations by Charles Rennie Mackintosh and by Margaret MacDonald are particularly appropriate and very moving. I like this book very much.

Walberswick beach Suffolk England on Flickr © monkeyinfez

The subject of my last post told how The House for an Art Lover has been built in Glasgow, seventy years after the artist’s death. This beautiful house had been designed towards 1900, when Mackintosh’s popularity was at its peak. Ten years later, however, the wind turned. Mackintosh’s art began to be considered as old-fashioned and commissions declined. As life was becoming more and more difficult in their own country, the Mackintoshes decided to move to England and, in 1914, they settled in Walberswick, a popular sea-side resort in Suffolk, where they rented a fisherman’s hut for a studio. Here, Mackintosh devoted most of his time to painting, an activity he had always dreamed to do. ‘During the day’ writes Robin Crichton, ‘he concentrated on his painting but when the light began to fail he would don his deerstalker hat and Inverness cape and stride off, pipe in mouth, across the dunes to gaze out to sea’. But only three weeks after the Mackintoshes’ arrival in Walberswick, war broke out with Germany and, in such a context, the pre-war German and Austrian connections of the Mackintoshes, the letters written to them and the daily walks along the coast soon became suspect.  Accused of being a spy Mackintosh was asked to go away. The couple moved to London, settling in the artistic community of Chelsea but their financial difficulties increased. The pressure on them only diminished when Margaret’s mother died, in 1923, leaving them a small inheritance. Following their friends’ advice, Charles and Margaret decided to take a holiday in the south of France. This was to be a new start for them….

France Roussillon Pyrénées orientales Vacances-Location.net map

Charles and Margaret were at once very enthusiastic about their French journey, exploring every area of this very nice region during the following months, from Perpignan up the river valleys of the Tech and of the Têt. All the places which enchanted them during this first journey are very well described in Robin Crichton’s book. For example, the Mackintoshes stopped at Amelie-les-Bains, the ‘Pearl of the Pyrénées’ which stands in the shadow of Mount Canigou. Here they rented a tiny old toll house with only two rooms one on top the other for studios, living at a nearby hotel. The place offered them a great variety of beautiful landscapes, luxurious vegetation, picturesque towns and villages rich in history and architecture. The ideal place for them to spend holidays and find inspiration.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh Mymosa watercolour 1924

“The mild micro-climate, writes Robin Crichton, “with hot sunshine, little wind and pure mountain air, creates a natural garden with a profusion of plants and flowers, which delighted Mackintosh. He and Margaret made expeditions into the surrounding countryside, collecting flowers. Mackintosh had always painted studies of flowers which he gathered in his walks and a picture of Mymosa dated January 1924 is one of the few which survive from this time. ‘Art is the flower – Life is the green leaf,’ he said in a lecture. “You must offer… flowers that grow from but above the green leaf… the flowers of the art that is in you’ … And of course Mackintosh could never resist visiting old churches in the surrounding villages. They went up to Montbolo, which clings to the heights on the north side of the town, where they marvelled at the ‘simple stone structure’ of the massive fortified tenth century church complete with slit windows.”

Port Vendres Pyrénées Orientales Source : Wikimedia

In the winter of 1925, after their long journey which had led them up and down the Pyrénées and, beyond the French frontiers, up to Spain and Italy, the Mackintoshes finally chose to settle in the nice little fishing village of Port Vendres, not far from Collioure which was one of their favourite places and where some of their best friends were staying.

Collioure Pyrénées Orientales Source Wikimedia

But ‘Toshie’, as Margaret used to call her husband, was more and more anxious to find tranquillity and  time to concentrate on his painting, far from mundane life. He had already made a lot of beautiful watercolours in the previous months, drawing inspiration from all the  places where they had stopped. In Amélie-les-Bains, Ille-sur-Têt,   Fetges near Montlouis and Collioure, Mackintosh had painted some of his most beautiful watercolours.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh La Ville watercolour 1926

But Port Vendres was to become his main source of inspiration for the last two years of his life. Charles and Margaret rented rooms at the Hotel du Commerce. They were much appreciated by the local people.  Charles spent hours and hours walking in the neighbourhood and painting the town.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh The Fort 1825-1826

Apart from the harbour and the beach, one of his favourite places was Fort Mailly, a ruined 16th fortification on the outskirts of Port Vendres. ‘Fort Mailly’, writes Robin Crichton, ‘was one of his favourite subjects. Apart from The Fort, it also features in Le Fort Mailly, The Road Through The Rocks and Port-Vendres. The actual road through the rocks is partly an open cutting and partly a tunnel. When he was working up there Margaret would go and meet him at the other end’.

On 28 may ‘I got up at 6.30 and was down soon after 7.00. The air was clear and perfect and hardly any wind – I was at work well before 8 o’clock at our castle [Fort Mailly], not at the ‘Rock’. It seemed to be the thing I was ready to do – I got on very well and worked till 12 o’clock. This drawing is now practically finished and I think it is very good of its kind – I shall give it another short morning as there are one or two things that might still be done – little points of closer observation – I find that each of my drawings has something but none of them have everything. (Charles Rennie Mackintosh)

Charles Rennie Mackintosh The Road Through the Rocks watercolour 1925-1926

I let you imagine the last scene of this very moving story.

Mackintosh left France in the autumn of 1927. In 1928 the Leicester Gallery finally agreed to show some of his paintings in a forthcoming exhibition. Several were still unsigned. He was sitting up in bed signing one of them when he died with the pencil in his hand. Shortly afterwards an invitation arrived from Vienna asking him to be Guest of Honour at a dinner to mark ‘his influence upon the art and architecture of his time.’ He was cremated on 11 December. (Monsieur Mackintosh – Robin Crichton)

In May 1929 Margaret returned to the Hotel du Commerce. It is said she fulfilled his wish and walked through the tunnel to Fort Mailly and on along the road through the rocks, to the mole at the entrance to the harbour, from where she scattered his ashes on the waters. (Monsieur Mackintosh – Robin Crichton)

I hope to have made you want to read Robin Crichton’s book or, still better, to come and walk on the Mackintosh Trail, in Roussillon.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh Slate Roofs Fetges watercolour 1925

A bientôt. Mairiuna

.

Mackintosh House for an Art Lover © 2007 Scotiana

For Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s admirers it’s something to find oneself in front of this elegant white building with its emblematic façade, so representative of the artist’s style and to think it has been built, more than seventy years after his death! If they came back to earth,  the Mackintoshes would certainly be the first to be surprised not only to see the house of their dreams proudly standing amidst a beautiful park, but also to see it there, in Bellahouston Park, in Glasgow.

For, after their disqualification at Darmstadt competition, in 1901, not only did they lose all their hopes to build the expensive House for an Art lover but, after a decade of popularity in the artistic circles, they fell into such disgrace in their home town and country that they decided to look for kinder climes, first in England and then in the south of France. But here, in the midst of Glasgow, stands the beautiful house, as a posthumous masterpiece of the great Glaswegian artists.

No better tribute could have been paid to them. Here’s the second part of this incredible story whose main protagonists are Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Margaret MacDonald, his wife and alter ego, but also Graham Roxburgh, a most fervent admirer of these great artists,  without whom the dream could have never come true…

Mackintosh's House for an Art Lover South elevation drawing - Building the Dream - Graham Roxburgh 2006

So it was that, after a relatively short period of recognition in the artistic world,  and following the undeserved fate of their genial designers, the fourteen Mackintoshes’ drawings for the Art Lover’s House, sunk into oblivion for a long time up to their discovery by Graham Roxburgh, the author of the book Building the Dream …

Craigie Hall, Rowan Road, Glasgow © Flickr EllieS'

It had all begun in 1985 when Graham Roxburgh, looking for a new building to house his firm of consulting engineers, fell upon Craigie Hall, a beautiful old mansion which, as he soon discovered, happened to contain several examples of Mackintosh’s earliest work. The house had been built in 1873 to the designs of Glasgow architect John Honeyman and bought in 1893 by Sir Thomas Mason, the great Glasgow builder who had just completed the City Chambers in George Square.

Sir Thomas appealed to John Honeyman, now associated with John Keppie, for the decoration and enlargment of the house and some work was entrusted to young Charles Rennie Mackintosh. He was then aged 25 and  had been employed by the architectural firm since 1889.

Graham Roxburgh immediately fell in love with the house, bought it and began to restore it to its original magnificence. It was a nice place to install offices so he partly used it for his own business and partly rented it to other companies, opening it some days to visitors.

Glasgow Hunterian Museum Mackintosh's interior design © 2007 Scotiana

Glasgow Hunterian Museum © 2007 Scotiana

This  adventure awakened in him a natural taste for architecture and triggered a passion for the Mackintoshes’ art, which made him visit all sites devoted to them. During his visit of the Hunterian Gallery, among other treasures, he fell upon a folio containing the Mackintoshes’ drawings for the Art Lover’s House and they made a strong impression on him…

It was a bright June day in 1980 when I drove along the motorway towards Glasgow Airport. I was considering the acquisition of a new office for my expanding firm of consulting engineers.

Spotting some rhododendrons in flower at the Dumbreck exit, I changed lanes and turned left next to Bellahouston Park. Facing me was a sales board in the grounds of a mansion hidden by trees, so I immediately turned left again and discovered a property hidden amongst the trees of a neglected walled garden. The windows were boarded up and the building was in a state of considerable dilapidation. It had stood empty for over two years, the lead had been stripped from the roof and it was reaching a point where restoration might have been impossible. I did not know at this time that the house had recently been saved from demolition by the prompt A-Listing of the house as a ‘building of national architectural importance’.

Yet the house contained some of Glasgow’s finest late Victorian interiors including, as I found, examples of Mackintosh’s earliest surviving work – particularly his incredible organ case dominating the Music-Room. With all of this in mind, I moved quickly to purchase the property.

My interest in architecture, ‘inherited’ from my father, was greatly stimulated by the ownership of Craigie Hall. We had many a visit from Mackintosh enthusiasts and experts and each one seemed to discover details of the building which had not been apparent at first sight.

Seeking to increase my knowledge, I visited most of the Mackintosh sites including the Hunterian Gallery of the University of Glasgow. Pamela Robertson, the Curator, directed me to the archive containing numerous architectural drawings by Mackintosh. Among them was a folio of his competition designs for the House for an Art Lover. Untying the binding cords the drawings fell open at : “Sheet No 7 – ‘Living Room and Music Room’. Panels by Margaret MacDonald Mackintosh. Charles Rennie Mackintosh 1901”.

The Braes of Glenlivet - Project 404 on Flickr

Snow can be inspiring …
In Building the Dream, Graham Roxburgh tells us how, one winter day in 1987, he suddenly had an idea which all Mackintosh’s admirers would qualify as genial: “A planned skiing trip to Cairngorm had been aborted due to snow and gales so, stuck in a snowdrift on the drive home, provided a useful two hours thinking time. ‘Why don’t we build the Art Lover’s House ?’ I mused, as I doodled with a ball point pen on the back of a used envelope.” Not everybody would have launched out into such a risky adventure but Graham Roxburgh was known as being “un homme de métier” with a very entrepreneurial mind and he did it.

Most of all, he had a strong motivation … the Mackintoshes’ dream had become his.

Mackintosh's music room drawing - Graham Roxburgh Building the Dream 2006

From its original design by Mackintosh, dating back to 1900, to its final realization in 1996 one can easily imagine how difficult it must have been to build the House for an Art Lover. Only fourteen drawings to begin with, and of a rare beauty, but some of them were incomplete and much more drawings would have been needed.

The first thing to do was to find a suitable site in Glasgow to build the house. Once more, Graham Roxburgh was lucky enough to fall upon such a place, let us say the ideal one, not far from Craigie Hall : “On an autumnal jog that same year [1987] through the neighbouring Bellahouston Park, I litterally ‘ran across’ a near perfect site on the location of the former Ibroxhill House, demolished some 80 years earlier but, amazingly, having all the principal features of the parkland site portrayed in the folio. It was time for Mackintosh’s dream to become a reality.”

If one accepts that the architect’s primary design is of mass, space, light and colour,

then there now exists a full-scale realization of Mackintosh’s astounding scheme.

(Graham Roxburgh - Building the Dream 2006)

But from dream to reality there is often more than one step !

Once the building site had been found, Graham Roxburgh had to get the authorization to build on it a private building as the place happened to be a public park, then he had to secure financial support for his project and finally to recruit a very qualified  team of designers, artists and craftsmen.

Last but not least, the  building work had to begin very quickly for the contract signed with the authorities stipulated that the Art Lover’s House  should open in 1990, as an illustration of the cultural dynamism of Glasgow which had been nominated for the title of European City of Culture.

This was a big challenge but Graham Roxburgh took it up :   “Three and a half years later the House and its interior were almost complete”.

It would have been only fair that, having devoted so much of his time, energy and money in the building of this house, Graham Roxburgh was allowed to lead the project up to its final conclusion in 1996. Sadly enough, due to a combination of unlucky circumstances, it was not the case.

Thanks to him, however, the House for an Art Lover will stand forever in the beautiful Bellahouston Park, as a unique testimony to the Mackintoshes’ artistic genius.

The re-discovery of Mackintosh as a design icon for Glasgow has provided the City with a brand image to match that of Antoni Gaudi in Barcelona. Mackintosh’s reputation as a designer has been central to the emergence of Glasgow as a tourist and cultural destination. The House for an Art Lover exceeded even my expectations by quickly becoming one of Glasgow’s iconic tourist and visitor attractions.

If you can find it, do read Building the Dream… it’s a very interesting story, full of  information and lively anecdotes, illustrated by a lot of photos and reproductions of the Mackintoshes’ drawings. Also, if you can, go and visit the House for an Art Lover… Not having been able to visit it we’ve been lucky to find a very interesting little film. It’s worth the visit ! It’s all there : the drawing and living rooms, the music room, the oval rooms,  the nursery room, the beautiful furniture, the lights and colours, the Mackintosh rose…etc…etc… Enjoy!

House of an Art Lover video was produced by Catswhiskerstours.co.uk

Musical arrangement by Jean-Claude Leducq of Scotiana.com

A bientôt.

Mairiuna.

No green leaves on the trees yet, but my window is wide open this morning and a very pleasant spring atmosphere is coming up from the garden! Here’s the spring, at last! This winter seemed to be a never ending one this year!

House for an Art Lover - Dining room - Glasgow © Dalbera (Flickr)

Now, if you could have a look at the sunny room where I’m writing, you would be amazed by the number of books which are piling everywhere. Never-ending too, those piles! On my desk you would find leaflets, postcards, articles and two or three beautifully illustrated volumes about Charles Rennie Mackintosh. If you have read our recent posts, you must already know that we are now focusing on this great artist on Scotiana. With his modern style motifs Mackintosh is doing as well as St Mungo with his legendary emblems on the city’s coat of arms to make Glasgow flourish!

Art Nouveau - Roses - Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum © mike.thomson75's (Flickr)

Just read what Janice has written in her last post about the Glasgow School of Art, and the symbolic designs which are to be found on its façade. It’s a very good beginning to enter the world of Mackintosh !

Art Nouveau- Window -Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum - mike.thomson75's (Flickr)

We are no experts, neither in artistic matters nor in Mackintosh art but we like very much the Glasgow Style, as we’ve found it expressed in design and architecture, with its sober lines and delicate colours, its floral and geometrical motifs. The feminine touch is omnipresent and some Celtic and Japanese influences are clearly perceptible.  Charles Rennie Mackintosh, the internationally famous architect and designer was the leader of a group of artists who came to be known as The Four and who included the painter and glass artist, Margaret MacDonald, who was Mackintosh’s wife, also MacDonald’s sister, Frances, and Herbert MacNair. As soon as we discovered these marvellous artists we were fascinated!

Margaret MacDonald - White Rose and Red Rose ( Wikipedia )

So, if you intend to visit Glasgow don’t forget to put Mackintosh on your agenda. There is really something magical in his art! There are many places designed by or devoted to Mackintosh in Glasgow, so you will need to plan your Mackintosh trail very carefully. We didn’t and we lost precious time.

Glasgow Mackintosh Trail Scotland with Style Leaflet - 2007

We could have tried the one-day £12  Charles Rennie Mackintosh Trail Ticket.  Not only does it give you unlimited travel on the city’s subway and First bus services in Greater Glasgow  but it also includes entry to the main Mackintosh attractions. If you limit your visits to The Glasgow School of Art and The Hill House, which will already take you a lot of time, this ticket will be well worth the purchase, for an adult entry to the School of Art will cost you £ 6.50 and one to the Hill House £8.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh Scotland with style leaflet map

(Click on the map to enlarge)

The three of us are quite impatient to go back to Glasgow to visit and revisit all the Mackintosh places.

Below are some pictures of our favourite attractions:

Glasgow-217 Sauchiehall Street - Mackintosh Willow Tea Rooms © 2007 Scotiana

The Willow Tearoom where we arrived too late to share a good cup of tea with style!  So beware of the closing hours.

Glasgow - Mackintosh House for an Art Lover © Scotiana 2007

We were very disappointed to learn that we could not visit The House for an Art Lover that day because a wedding reception was going to take place there. The building architecture and the garden are well worth the trip , not to speak of the very refined meal we had there, in the  very nice setting of the restaurant, but we’ll have to come back there anyway !

Here’s an article from Wikipedia which explains quite well the origins of the house.

The House for an Art Lover is based on a design produced in 1901 by Charles Rennie Mackintosh with his wife, Margaret MacDonald. The building is situated in Bellahouston Park in Glasgow, Scotland. Construction began in 1989 and the house was finally opened to the public in 1996. Mackintosh’s original designs were interpreted and realised by John Kane and Graeme Robertson (up to 1990) under Andrew MacMillan, with contributions by many contemporary artists. Original portfolio designs are displayed in each room to allow comparisons.

The house was originally designed for an ideas competition set by the German design magazine Zeitschrift für Innendekoration for a “Haus eines Kunstfreundes” (Art Lover’s House). Despite disqualification due to late entry, the portfolio was awarded a prize for “pronounced personal quality, novel and austere form and the uniform configuration of interior and exterior”. (Wikipedia)

Not being able to visit The House for an Art Lover, we’ve bought a very interesting book about this house. I can only recommend it to those who are interested by Mackintosh’s architecture even if this house was realised 70 years after his death. In Appendix 1 of this book I’ve found a reproduction of the original “Ideas Competition”  German document   published in December 1900,  together with its English translation . The following passage is particularly interesting :

Given the importance of colour in modern architecture, the inclusion of one or more coloured sketches would be welcomed.

Only genuinely original modern designs will be considered, they must be of distinguished aspect and truly artistic construction using space to good advantage; care must be taken throughout that furniture and fittings reflect what modern day trends have achieved in both technical and artistic regard; it ought to represent a kind of ideal modern home. It should not have a character of splendid luxury, but rather that of a refined well-to-do family home. The cost of building (excluding the heating and light installations, furniture, wall paper and decoration but including the staircase and the floors) shall not exceed 100-120,000 Marks. The façades are to be artistically distinctive but, above all, simple. The architectural features, such as cornices, window and door frames are to be realised in sand stone, with the ornamental details in sand stone or other applied material.

It is permissible and even desirable that an Architect and a Decorative Artist of modern tastes develop and submit the design jointly.

(from Building The Dream by Graham Roxburgh 2006)

The Glasgow School of Art © Scotiana 2007

Our guided visit of the School of Art by a student of the school proved to be extremely interesting, especially that of the library. It’s no longer a secret, on Scotiana, that we are very fond of libraries.  How we would have liked to be forgotten there. Alas, we were not allowed to take photos inside the building so to compensate for our lack of images I give you a description of the library I’ve found   my Mackintosh “bible” :

The library is quite possibly Mackintosh at his most brilliant. Soaring oak posts support substantial beams holding up the gallery and rhytmically dividing the room into a space of unequalled harmony. There is an undeniable parallel between the physicality of the room and the concept of the tree of knowledge seen through the heavy oak posts reaching towards the central grouping of 13 lights suspended from the ceiling on tendril-like cords. The symbol of the tree was one that Mackintosh used repeatedly through his career and in all areas of his art. ( Mackintosh Tamsin Pickeral Flame Tree Publishing 2005)

The Mackintosh Church - Glasgow © Scotiana 2007

I always try to imagine an old building as  it must have been when it  was new, standing there in its past environment, without traffic lights, roadsigns and markings,  and with stage-coaches passing in the street instead of our modern cars… By the way, this church is not so old since its only  dates back to 1897. Here is what I’ve read on the church’s website:

The Mackintosh Church at Queen’s Cross is one of Glasgow’s hidden architectural gems. The only church in the world designed by the great Scottish architect, designer and artist, Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Commissioned in 1896 by the Free Church, the simplicity of the design is inspiring. The windows are Gothic in character, yet are infused with the Mackintosh spirit, and the floral motifs he affected can be easily recognised, particularly on the tracery of the large western window above the chancel.

Queen’s Cross Church was turned into the headquarters for the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society in 1977 and when we went there our visit happened to be quite restricted because of a special event which was taking place there at the same moment. A very beautiful place and quite peaceful too !

The Hill House - Helensburgh © 2007 Scotiana

“Every detail inside, as well as outside, received his careful, I might say loving, attention”.  (Walter Blackie)

Last but not least, here’s Hill House, a beautiful house situated outside Glasgow, in a peaceful environnement and surrounded by a very nice garden …No doubt, it’s one of our favourites !

Alas, here again, we were not allowed to take photos  inside the building.

Here are two other very interesting extracts from my Mackintosh “bible”, describing the exterior of the building :

The Hill House was commissioned by Walter Blackie in 1902 and is considered to be one of the most successful domestic buildings that Mackintosh completed in contrast to the Scottish vernacular treatment of the exterior, the interior is evocative of Oriental influence and has a continuing theme of the rose motif.

Mackintosh’s L-shape floor plan allowed the living quarters to sit on one axis, while the service areas were kept separate on their own axis. At The Hill House the join between them is marked by an unusual, round stairwell encased within a turret. This design was unusual in domestic architecture at this time and was further emphasized by the smaller turreted tool shed sitting below it. The exterior looks to the tradition of Baronial Scottish architecture in spirit and rendering with the time-worn use of harling on the outside walls. The surprising Mackintosh twist, however, is displayed through his use of highly varied window shapes. ( Mackintosh Tamsin Pickeral Flame Tree Publishing 2005)

Monsieur Mackintosh: The Travels And Paintings of Charles Rennie Mackintosh in the Pyrenees Orientales 1923-1927 Luath Press Ltd 2006

But I would not end this post without adding a French note… did you know Mr Mackintosh and his wife Margaret, had spent several years of their life in the south of France… I will tell you more about that as soon as I receive the above book…

A très bientôt  !

Mairiuna

That day, in Glasgow, “il pleuvait des hallebardes” or, as we would also say in France “il tombait des cordes” which means in English, that  “it was raining cats and dogs”, a favourite expression of mine which I had no problem to remember at school! I wonder what is its origin. We could ask Iain and Margaret. I’d be much surprised if our dear Scottish friends would not have a very interesting and learned answer to that funny question…

Glasgow Scotiana modified Google map

We had been walking for a while under the rain in the very busy shopping thoroughfare of Glasgow which is composed of Argyll Street, Buchanan Street and Sauchiehall Street …

Sauchiehall Street The Willow Tearoom Mackintosh Sign © 2007 Scotiana

…when we fell upon the very colourful and stylish Mackintosh sign standing in front of a bright and luxury window. On the ground floor there was a jewellery, Henderson’s it read, and on the first floor a tearoom. Guess what! We had arrived at 217 Sauchiehall Street, a number which has become as famous in Glasgow, though more tangible, as 221 b Baker Street in London.

Sauchiehall Street The Willow Tearoom © 2007 Scotiana

We immediately felt like going into this very inviting secular temple to share a hot cup of tea and taste some of the specialities offered there  but drenched as we were, with our dripping parkas and dirty walking shoes,  we hardly dared to enter this  mythical place.

Tea and scones source : wikipedia

In the very welcoming Scottish B&Bs, hotels and restaurants, tearooms, pubs and other places, we had very often been given the opportunity to taste and appreciate the delicious and inimitable local pastries, in the form of scones, pancakes and various other delicacies generally served with an abundance of butter, jam or cream and we are always quite eager to renew the experience each time a new occasion occurs, especially when it’s wintry and rainy outside. Soon, indeed, we’ll open a page on Scotiana in which we intend to introduce Scottish specialities and even try to give recipes… tested recipes…

Menu card design for Miss Cranston's Cafes at the 1911 Glasgow International exhibition Source Wikipedia

We finally entered Sauchiehall Willow Tearoom but so limited was our time that day and so long was the queue of people waiting to be served that we finally decided to come back another day. We didn’t, but no need to say how the three of us are eager to sit down at one of the little tables in the very relaxing atmosphere of this marvellously decorated tearoom.

Sauchiehall Street The Willow Tearoom © 2007 Scotiana

But The Willow Tearooms of Glasgow, for there are several ones, have an old story to tell. Its main characters happen to be a lady and a whole team of genial Glaswegian artists… but I will tell you more about all that in my next post …
In the meantime enjoy our photos to try and get the sense of this unique place in Glasgow which has repeatedly won awards of excellence.

Sauchiehall Street Willow Tearoom Award © 2007 Scotiana

A bientôt. Mairiuna.

Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum Margaret MacDonald Mackintosh frieze