The Architectural Designs of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Margaret MacDonald
Article and Photography by Jack Bookwalter
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| Scotland St. School shows the abundant use of natural glass. |
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| Decorative metalwork on the Glasgow School of Art. |
In the last issue of Northwest Renovation I wrote about visiting some of the best-known Arts and Crafts buildings in England. In this issue I will continue this architectural journey into Scotland and look at some early 20th century buildings designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh and his Glasgow cohorts.
Glasgow at the turn of the last century was the Second City of the British Empire. Having first become wealthy on the tobacco and cotton trade with North America, it was now enjoying its heyday as a center of manufacturing and shipbuilding. The city had absorbed tens of thousands of immigrants from rural Scotland, as well as from Ireland and other parts of Europe. The resulting ethnic and class stew created some tensions but it also fostered an atmosphere of vitality, creativity, and experimentation. This background often caused Glaswegians to think of themselves as “the Eastern-most City in the United States” (a sentiment still shared by many today).
It was into this stimulating, vital environment that Mackintosh was born in 1868. During his formative years as an art student and architectural apprentice, Mackintosh sought to learn the new artistic ideas that were occurring in France, England, elsewhere in Europe, America, and Japan. The designs of the adult architect reflected this global influence. Just like the melting-pot city around him, the architect absorbed many varied influences but produced works that were greater than the sum of their parts. Today the French would like to claim that Mackintosh’s swirling curves and vine-like tendrils are derived from Art Nouveau. Likewise, the English place him squarely in the Arts and Crafts movement with his abundant use of well-crafted interior woodwork, his simple Medieval exterior forms, and his attention to interior detail. Other national art forms that claim a connection to Mackintosh include the Austrian Secession School, the American Prairie style, and many aspects of Japanese design. But in the end, Mackintosh’s designs are purely his own.
Perhaps the strongest influence on Mackintosh came not from another country, but from his wife, Margaret MacDonald. At the time of their marriage in 1897, MacDonald was arguably Glasgow’s most accomplished young female artist. Mackintosh once quipped: “I have talent. Margaret has genius.” Mackintosh’s designs after their marriage show a definite softening quality. He begins using MacDonald’s Art Nouveau swirls and curves in his own work. The pair also collaborated together on design projects. Perhaps the most successful of these collaborations is the “House for an Art Lover” designed in 1900 but not constructed until nearly a century later. In 1998 the City of Glasgow together with a local foundation constructed the House for an Art Lover in a city park, utilizing the original plans and drawings of Mackintosh and MacDonald. Today the house is operated as a museum where the public can come and view the splendid work of these two talented designers.
Sadly though, Mackintosh and MacDonald’s fortunes began to tumble less than a decade after their 1900 rise as Glasgow’s artistic “power couple.” The city that was so keen on embracing “the new” could just as quickly drop those whose ideas were deemed “old fashioned.” Mackintosh and MacDonald’s work seemed forever rooted in their peak years at the turn of the century. Unlike America’s Frank Lloyd Wright (or, I suppose, Madonna), Mackintosh and MacDonald never found ways to re-invent themselves. The couple left Glasgow in 1913, living out the rest of their lives in Bohemian semi-poverty in England and the South of France.
Today, Glasgow has resurrected the image of Mackintosh and MacDonald and has given them the recognition they have always deserved. Well publicized tours are given of the Glasgow School of Art, the House for an Art Lover, the Hill House, Queen’s Cross Church, Scotland St. School, Miss Cranston’s Willow Tearoom, and others. The Hunterian Galleries of the University of Glasgow has even recreated the couple’s house inside the museum. The furniture and paintings are all original pieces designed and built by Mackintosh and MacDonald themselves, having been safely stored away all these years by Mackintosh’s nephew.
For the architectural traveler, Glasgow is a treasure chest of Victorian and early 20th century architectural delights. The works of Mackintosh and MacDonald are the crown jewels at the top of this treasure chest. |
