I was devastated to hear today of the fire at Charles Rennie Mackintosh‘s masterpiece building, the Glasgow School of Art. (For pictures of the undamaged building see here.)

I have featured another of his buildings, Scotland Street School, here.

I have also visited the House for an Art Lover, built to Mackintosh designs in Glasgow’s Bellahouston Park (on part of the site of the Empire Exhibition, Scotland, 1938,) and Hill House in Helensburgh as well as the Mackintosh House at the Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery at the University of Glasgow but all without benefit a modern camera. All are visually stunning.

I must confess to being a teeny bit annoyed when Lorna Gordon, BBC London’s Scotland correspondent, called the Art School an Art Deco building. None of Mackintosh’s buildings are Deco. They are leaning towards it, certainly, but really have more in common with Art Nouveau. At a pinch you could say they act as a bridge between the two styles. While some Mackintosh designs have the blend of horizontal and vertical that is a signifier of Art Deco he also had a strong liking for curves which grew firmly from the Art Nouveau tradition of evoking nature and natural forms.

I assume the plans for the School of Art are still in existence somewhere – and that there is insurance in place. Even if it is costly it is to be hoped that some sort of effort at restoration can be made to the Art School. The result may not be original but so few of Mackintosh’s designs were erected in his lifetime it would be tantamount to a crime to allow to disappear the outstanding example that was.

In the meantime, not just Glasgow, not only Scotland, but the world, is a poorer place to live in tonight.

This is Charles Rennie Mackintosh’€™s lesser Glasgow masterpiece (it comes second to the School Of Art.)

Scotland Street School

The day I visited the School – which is now a museum of Scottish education – there were two buses parked outside making a decent photo impossible so the above picture of the frontage is from the scotcities website where you can find loads of views of both the exterior and the interior.

These are my images:-

Entrance Gates. Lovely arch.

Infant’s Entrance – now the entrance to the museum. Typical Mackintosh motifs.

One of the circular stairwells. The stained glass in these is best seen from inside.

Janitor’s house, sited in the playground.

Side view. The janitor’s house is to the left of this photo.

Detail of side of building at top.

The Glasgow Guide site has on its second page a nice photo of the tiled pillars flanking the Drill Hall just inside the entrance.

Most of the links on the first Google page for Scotland Street School are worth a look.