House for an Art Lover
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Bellahouston Park, 10 Dumbreck Road, G41 5BW
1996, Charles Rennie Mackintosh A stunning building completed in 1996 from original designs by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Set in leafy Bellahouston Park, House for an Art Lover has been realised in materials, craftsmanship and dimensions as closely as possible to the original Mackintosh designs.
In 1901 Charles Rennie Mackintosh, now Glasgow’s most famous architect, entered a German-based competition to design a ‘Grand Residence for an Art Lover’. The rules stated that ‘only genuinely original modern designs will be considered’. Mackintosh worked on the submission with his new wife, Margaret Macdonald. In the event, the Mackintosh entry was disqualified from the competition on the grounds of incomplete submission, but after three required interior perspectives were completed and submitted, the designs were awarded a purchase prize for ‘their pronounced personal quality, their novel and austere form and the uniform configuration of interior and exterior’. Significantly, no first prize had been awarded. Creating the House, The Mackintosh competition entry, has been admired by academics and architects alike over the last century. But, it was in 1987 that Glasgow civil engineer Graham Roxburgh conceived and developed the idea of building the House for an Art Lover, from the competition drawings, on a site he had identified in Bellahouston Park. Graham had been responsible for the refurbishment of the nearby Craigie Hall which contains early Mackintosh interiors. |
Fri-Sun 9am-12.30pm
Tours Fri-Sun9.30am & 11.15am, Booking essential for tours - 0141 483 1600, info@houseforanartlover.co.uk Car park available on site – free of charge
His dream to build the House for an Art Lover became a reality in 1990 when the building exterior and much of the interior and craftwork were completed by his remarkable team of architects, designers, builders and craftsmen. However, recession in the early nineties forced the project to be temporarily halted. Interior work and landscaping were resumed in 1994, revived by collaboration between Glasgow City Council and the Glasgow School of Art. It is a fitting tribute that Mackintosh’s most impressive and respected building, the Glasgow School of Art, retains strong links with the House for an Art Lover.
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