Tag: Glasgow

  • The Hill House by Charlie Macintosh

    The Hill House in Helensburgh near Glasgow designed by Charlie Macintosh.

    After a day of strolling around Glasgow I picked up my rental car and started driving towards Oban for my first ferry – but already had planned to stop at The Hill House in Helensburgh near Glasgow.

    Commissioned by Glasgow book publisher Walter Blackie, up-and-coming architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh and artist Margaret Macdonald worked collaboratively to create almost everything you see here, from the building itself to the furniture and textiles. (National Trust Scotland)

    The first view of the Hill House was a view of a box! This transparent porous “box” was added around the house around 2019 to protect the building and help it to dry out again.

    The Hill House in Helensburgh near Glasgow designed by Charlie Macintosh.

    Walter Blackie purchased the grounds in 1902 for his future family home, he then commissioned the up-and-coming architect Charlie Macintosh – The Hill House was completed in 1904 and is considered Machintosh’s domestic masterpiece.

    The Hill House in Helensburgh near Glasgow designed by Charlie Macintosh.

    Mackintosh believed that to design a home properly he had to understand the needs of its occupants, so he spent a great deal of time with the Blackie family during the project’s initial stage to ensure his proposal suited their lifestyle. (dezeen.com)

    Blackie later described the process that they designed from the inside out. Macintosh observed how the family and also the staff would use the house and what they would need.

    The building displays typical Mackintosh influences, with a robust exterior referencing Scottish vernacular architecture, contrasting with a highly ornamental interior, featuring oriental themes alongside art-nouveau and art-deco details. (dezeen.com)

    Macintosh and his wife the artist Margaret MacDonald designed almost every element of the house, from the architecture to the furniture, fireplaces, lighting and textiles.

    Margaret was an established artist before they met, and helped to define the Mackintosh style. From the embroidered hangings in the main bedroom to the ‘Sleeping Princess’ panel above the fireplace in the drawing room, Margaret was responsible for some of the house’s most famous features. (National Trust for Scotland)

    But Blackie couldn´t afford to finish the interior entirely according to Mackintosh’s designs, so the architect focused on the main spaces of the hallway, library, master bedroom and drawing room.

    The Hill House in Helensburgh near Glasgow designed by Charlie Macintosh.

    It is a play of light and dark as well as masculine and feminine. From the masculine dark rooms like the library and entrance to the bright feminine rooms like the master bedroom and the drawing room, making the most of the natural light.

    The Hill House in Helensburgh near Glasgow designed by Charlie Macintosh.

    Charles and Margaret’s style was avant-garde, and some people criticised the lack of colour. Walter Blackie’s daughter, Ruth, preferred to describe it as ‘an unfussiness’. (National Trust for Scotland)

    The Hill House in Helensburgh near Glasgow designed by Charlie Macintosh.

    The Hill House in Helensburgh near Glasgow designed by Charlie Macintosh.

    The Hill House in Helensburgh near Glasgow designed by Charlie Macintosh.

    Macintosh was ahead of his time in Britain, even though he was greatly admired in Europe. There were exhibitions of his work in Vienna and he used to be in contact with Josef Hoffmann. But the Hill House never received the glowing reviews that would help Mackintosh continue his ground-breaking work. After a few more commissions in Glasgow Macintosh moved to London and designed book covers for Walter Blackie. Later he spent time in France and painted watercolours.

    It was not until the late 1920s and 30s that the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh began to be appreciated more widely. But for Charles it was too late. After years of ill health, he died in London in December 1928, aged 60. (National Trust for Scotland)

    The Hill House in Helensburgh near Glasgow designed by Charlie Macintosh.

    The Hill House in Helensburgh near Glasgow designed by Charlie Macintosh.

    The Blackie family continued to live in the Hill House and cherished their unique home until the upkeep with the water ingress problems became too hard and they gave the house to the National Trust of Scotland in the 1980s.

    The house was mainly built out of Portland cement which just isn´t suitable for the Scottish weather and there were many problems with water ingress. In 2017 a study of the house showed that the water damages were so big that the whole structure was at risk. The National Trust of Scotland started a ten-year project to save the Hill House. An enormous see-through structure was designed by London architecture studio Carmody Groarke to protect the house from the wind and rain.

    The Hill House in Helensburgh near Glasgow designed by Charlie Macintosh.

    The Hill House in Helensburgh near Glasgow designed by Charlie Macintosh.

    Stairs along the box and gangways now offer us truly special views of the house – you can even walk over the rooftop and admire it from all sides.

    The Hill House in Helensburgh near Glasgow designed by Charlie Macintosh.

    The Hill House in Helensburgh near Glasgow designed by Charlie Macintosh.

    The Hill House in Helensburgh near Glasgow designed by Charlie Macintosh.

    The Hill House is surrounded by a stunning garden and there is also a coffee house – I would definitely recommend visiting this former residential home. It was fun to see influences that might have come from Macintosh’s visits to Vienna.

     

     

  • Glasgow

    I left Skye very early morning and drove back to Edinburgh where my Scottish summer had started and returned the car. I hopped on a train to Glasgow where I spent my last two days in the lovely Native Hotel in the city centre. A hotel that greets you with a big chunk of cheese and a bottle of wine, what´s not to love there?

    glasgow

    I spent the two days exploring the city and leaving my camera in the hotel. Enjoy a little Glasgow “photo dumb” from my phone. Starting with the Gallery of Modern Art

    Glasgow 1

    Taking the subway to the West End

    Glasgow 2

    Kelvingrove Museum

    Glasgow 3

    Walking back to the city and just having to stop at the Willows Tea Room

    Glasgow 4

    Going to the Southside the next day and walking towards Pollok country park and Pollok House

    Glasgow 5

    Pollok House

    Glasgow 6

    Glasgow 7

    Glasgow 8

    Glasgow 9

    Back in the city centre

    Glasgow 10

     

     

     

  • Glasgow – Necropolis

     

    I think it was around half past 6, I was already pretty exhausted (and a little bit wet, which I didn´t mind after the heatwave back in Vienna) but still, there was the one “thing” I didn´t want to miss – the Victorian cemetery Necropolis, up on a hill next to the Cathedral of Glasgow.

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    In 1650 the Merchants’ House bought the land, part of the estate of Wester Craigs, now known as the Glasgow Necropolis. As the west side was rocky and not able to be developed it was subsequently planted with fir trees and became known as Fir Park. However, in 1804, the Scots Firs in the park started to die and were replaced by mainly elm and willow and the area became a Victorian park and arboretum. In 1825 the foundation stone of the John Knox monument was laid in Fir Park. (Friends of Necropolis)

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    In 1831 the idea of transforming Fir Park into a Père Lachaise kind of cemetery was set into action by advertising a competition for the conversion in the newspapers. David Bryce of Edinburgh and his brother John Bryce of Glasgow won the first and second price, but the actual work was done by the landscape gardener George Mylne.

    So far the parish church had been responsible for burying the dead but with fewer people attending church, alternatives were needed. The laws were changed and “burial for profit” allowed. The Cemeteries Act was passed in 1832 and Necropolis officially opened in 1833.

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    This burial ground was always intended to be interdenominational and the first burial in 1832 was that of a Jew, Joseph Levi, a jeweller. In 1833 the first Christian burial was of Elizabeth Miles, stepmother of the Superintendent, George Mylne. After 1860, the first extensions east and south were to take up the Ladywell quarry and in 1877 and 1892/3, the final extensions to the north and south-east were constructed, doubling the size of the cemetery. (Friends of Necropolis)

    Over the years 50.000 burials have taken place and 3500 tombs have been built.

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    Even on such a dreary day, it was lovely to walk around Necropolis, even if you don´t have that soft spot for beautiful cemeteries like I have.  The view towards the city and cathedral isn´t too bad either.

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    Necropolis is laid out like an informal park, the path slowly goes uphill to the summit where the (predated) John Knox monument is surrounded by larger monuments.

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