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TOURS (examples)
1. AYRSHIRE & BURNS COUNTRY TOUR           

2. GLASGOW CITY TOUR

3. CHARLES RENNIE MACINTOSH TOUR

FURTHER DETAILS   Booking Information

CHARLES RENNIE MACKINTOSH

Suggested Charles Rennie Mackintosh Tour:

Day Tour to include some of Charles Mackintosh’s buildings.

Pick up from your hotel and on the way to visit The House for an Art Lover stop off at Scotland Street School for an external view. After a short time at The House for an Art Lover, return to the city centre for a guided tour of Glasgow School of Art.

Perhaps a bite of lunch at the Willow Tearoom? On the way to Helensburgh and The Hill House, if time permits, a quick visit to the Mackintosh House.

This is a full day and can be varied to include your preferences.

CHARLES RENNIE MACKINTOSH

Charles Rennie Mackintosh was born in 1868 in Glasgow. He enrolled at Glasgow School of Art in1884 where he excelled in drawing and painting as well as in design.

Along with his friends Herbert McNair and the MacDonald sisters Margaret and Francis, “ The Four” became a major force in the development of the “Glasgow Style”

Charles did not receive much acclaim during his lifetime, it was not until the early 1960s that people realised how talented he had been.

GLASGOW ART SCHOOL

Glasgow School of Art dates from 1845, and is one of the oldest and largest art schools in Britain. In 1885 Francis Newberry became Director of the School and it expanded considerably. In 1896 the Governors announced a competition for the design of a new building. The prize was awarded to Charles Rennie Mackintosh, an ex-student of the School.

This is Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s masterpiece which continues to inspire visitors from all over the world.  Built for use as an art school, over 100 years later this building is still in use as originally intended with an excellent international reputation.

It has a fascinating exterior as well as a very distinctive interior.  It can be visited by guided tour only.

SCOTLAND STREET SCHOOL

In 1906 Mackintosh was commissioned to build a Primary School – a “straight through school” for pupils aged five to thirteen years.   He was allocated a budget of £14 000 which he overran to £19 000, so although he produced a very attractive building and was awarded Membership of the R.S.A. on account of it, he was never awarded another contract with the Education Board!

At the time the site was in a very populated area with many tenements and warehouses.  The school had a capacity for 1,250 pupils in classrooms accommodating 60 to 66 pupils.

In the 1960’s the school roll dropped when many of the tenements were demolished to make way for the building of the M8 motorway.  The school finally closed in 1979 with just 89 pupils remaining on its roll.

To-day it houses a Museum of Education.

HOUSE FOR AN ART LOVER

In 1901 whilst in Vienna, Mackintosh and his new wife Margaret Macdonald heard of a competition set by a German interior design magazine to design the House for an Art Lover. Charles was late in submitting his entry.  In addition to this his designs were incomplete, so he did not win the competition but was awarded a special commendation.

The house was not built at the time.

Construction began in 1989 and the exterior was completed in time for Glasgow celebrating the award - European City of Culture.  Unfortunately there were insufficient funds to complete the interior at that time.  The House for an Art Lover was finally completed and opened to the public in 1996.

There were insufficient building plans made by Mackintosh, so much research had to take place regarding how it should have appeared.  It is now a delightful visitor attraction showing some of room interiors which Charles and Margaret had planned.

THE HILL HOUSE

The Hill House was designed and built for the publisher Walter W. Blackie between 1902 and 1904 as a family residence.

The exterior, may appear to some as severe and unwelcoming, but the harling finish and the flavour of Scottish vernacular/baronial style makes it a very distinctive building.

The interior however, is like a secret garden.   Mackintosh did not design all the furniture as the family wished to use ‘old favourites’.