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 Charles
Rennie Mackintosh
Part
2: The Glasgow School of Art
Above: The
Mackintosh Library, 1907-09, in the Glasgow School of Art.
© Glasgow School of Art Enterprises Ltd.
In 1896 a competition was held
for architects to find one to design the new Glasgow School of
Art. Because there was insufficient funding for the whole project,
in the end only part of it was built. At that time the director
of the School, Francis Newberry, was a friend of Mackintosh and
had also seen his work as a student at the School. It appears
that he heavily influenced the decision to award the prize to
Mackinstosh's design and so the commission to the architectural
practice where Mackintosh worked.
The eastern end of the school was
built first and opened in 1899. The remainder was started eight
years later when additional money had been raised by which time
Mackintosh had revised his original plans for this part. The building
was much criticised at the time. On the southern side, it owed
something in style, with its slab like walls and small irregular
windows, to Scottish castles. However, the studios had huge windows,
particularly when contrasted to the small windows in other Victorian
buildings of the time, and these were different sizes reflecting
the size of studio
behind.
Mackintosh also designed the interiors.
The director's room was light and bright while much of the rest
of the building had dark stained pine panelled walls. The library,
pictured above, is one of Mackintosh's most celebrated interior
designs.
Left: Stained glass panel in
the door of Studio 45 in the Glasgow School of Art. © Glasgow
School of Art Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright © 2001 by Carol
Fisher
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