Description

John Keppie and Charles Rennie Mackintosh (John Honeyman and Keppie), 1893-5. Glasgow style. Six-storeys, ten asymmetrical bays with ten-storey tower at northwest angle. Polished ashlar commercial building with Art Nouveau details. Octagonal corner tower with pilasters and Art Nouveau doorpiece flanked by two arched windows with stylised keystones. Three windows to each floor; first, second, and third single; bipartite with glazed tympanum fourth; two single windows fifth, three in sixth, corbelled seventh storey blank with curvilinear decoration; small pilastered windows eighth; gallery and set-back, round-arched windows ninth with oversailing bellcast lead roof. Elevation to Mitchell Street: 1-2-14-1 bays. Ground floor loading bays divided by piers; narrow entrance; three round-arched southern bays with modern infill and additional loading bays. Upper floors repeating main detailing.

Statement of Interest

After lying vacant for many years in the 1990s, the building was transformed into "The Lighthouse" - Scotland's Centre for Architecture, Design and the City. A modern extension by Page & Park was added to the rear and the 1890s fabric was largely retained and repaired (Mackintosh Architecture). . The refurbished building contains a permanent Mackintosh Interpretation Centre and was opened to the public in July 1999.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh, who was a young assistant in the practice of John Honeyman and Keppie during this period of the early 1890s, claimed responsibility for the surviving Glasgow Herald building on Mitchell Street. Elements of the design show Mackintosh's characteristic indivuality and there are many surviving drawings for the project that bear his handwriting. The extent of his involvement remains unclear however, as on a project of this scale and importance, John Keppie, or possibly John Honeyman, would likley have had substantial input (Mackintosh Architecture).

Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928) was born in Glasgow and is regarded internationally as one of the leading architects and designers of the 20th century. He became known as a pioneer of Modernism, although his architecture took much inspiration from Scottish Baronial, and Scottish and English vernacular forms and their reinterpretation. The synthesis of modern and traditional forms led to a distinctive form of Scottish arts and crafts design, known as 'The Glasgow Style'. This was developed in collaboration with contemporaries Herbert McNair, and the sisters Francis and Margaret Macdonald (who would become his wife in 1900), who were known as 'The Four'. The Glasgow Style is now synonymous with Mackintosh and the City of Glasgow.

Mackintosh's work is wide-ranging and includes public, educational and religious buildings to private houses, interior decorative schemes and sculptures. He is associated with over 150 design projects, ranging from being the principal designer, to projects he was involved with as part of the firm of John Honeyman & Keppie (Honeyman, Keppie & Mackintosh from 1901). The most important work during this partnership was the Glasgow School of Art (LB33105), which was built in two phases from 1897 and culminated in the outstanding library of 1907. Other key works include the Willow Tea Rooms (LB33173) and Hill House (LB34761), which display the modern principles of the German concept of 'Gesamtkunstwerk', meaning the 'synthesis of the arts'. This is something that Mackintosh applied completely to all of his work, from the exterior to the internal decorative scheme and the furniture and fittings.

Mackintosh left Glasgow in 1914, setting up practice in London the following year. Later he and Margaret moved to France, where until his death, his artistic output largely turned to textile design and watercolours.

Listed building record revised in 2019.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• The Lighthouse, Glasgow at Wikipedia
• Wikidata IDs Q17568422 Q7747302

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

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  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
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  Drawing up a Local Listed Building Consent Order: Historic England Advice Note 6
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