Mackintosh: House for an Art Lover

Charles Rennie Mackintosh is one of Scotland’s most celebrated designers and architects. He was responsible for a number of the most striking buildings in Glasgow and beyond in the early 20th century, including his world-famous Glasgow School of Art. 

Mackintosh considered architecture to be the supreme discipline because of the way it combined all forms of the arts. 

His work was conceived as complete units rather than individual components, combining modernity/tradition, masculinity/femininity, light/darkness and sensuality/chasteness.

With only 14 original drawings, developing fully working architectural plans for the house was very challenging. A good deal of the project involved studying Mackintosh’s other work to understand the approaches, materials and techniques he would have employed.

Graham Roxburgh decided upon the location for House for an Art Lover while jogging in Bellahouston Park, Glasgow. He came across the grounds of a burned-down 18th-century mansion and realised that they would be a perfect fit for Mackintosh’s plans.

The grandness of the hall’s proportions paired with details such as the staircase and the central fireplace is reminiscent of the Scottish “baronial style” – a 19th-century architectural form inspired by imposing castle-like homes of the 16th and 17th centuries.

But Mackintosh has combined this with other influences, such as Japanese architecture – notice the clear lines, stark contrasts and use of partitions (e.g. the lanterns and the gallery above the hall).

The first-floor balcony leads visitors’ eyes up through the double-height space. It was included in the original design, but additional clues or design references came from other Mackintosh balconies – in particular, one at Glasgow’s Queen’s Cross Church.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s approach to the house was to seamlessly blend art and architecture. The house provides its own decoration – it was designed to discourage further filling with paintings and ornaments.

This represents a clear contrast with the typically dark and cluttered Victorian homes of the time. Such homes would usually have heavy plastered ceilings; in this room, Mackintosh uses a light barrel-vaulted ceiling which almost seems to disappear.

It would have been the intention for Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh to make these panels using her unique gesso technique. Gesso is made from layering a mixture of plaster, whitening agent and rabbit-skin glue, with the final layer being piped on like the icing on a cake.

Often, large houses at the beginning of the 20th century had separate after-dinner rooms for men and women. Because of this, the Oval Room was designed to be a room for ladies. 

The oval was frequently used by Mackintosh to symbolise femininity – here, there are many oval details in the room. This is the only room of the house completed without a drawing of the interior. There were enough clues in other Mackintosh oval rooms for the architects to bring the room to life.

The number of rooms for men in Victorian houses would greatly exceed those for women. Typically, men would have access to a library or study, a billiard room, a gentlemen’s room (for business) and a smoking room.

The spectacular music room is the centrepiece of the house. The large bay windows make the most of the south-facing view, letting in a lot of light and connecting the room to the parkland beyond.

Some elements of this room – such as the beautiful piano, playable by guests – were clearly shown in the original plans. 

Other objects – such as the female forms on the fabric banners either side of the windows, suggested by little more smudges in the design – needed greater interpretation by the designers.

Around the room, 4 of the recurring symbols in Mackintosh’s work can be seen: the rose, the tree, the bird and the seed/egg. Mackintosh frequently sought inspiration from nature in his motifs.