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Photographs and text by Jacqueline Banerjee. [You may use these images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Left: Three-quarter view of Glasgow School of Art, Renfrew Street, Glasgow. Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928). 1896-99. . Right: Entrance. [Click on images to enlarge them.]
Despite or even because of its uphill backstreet setting, this building has achieved iconic status. It recently made news when it was judged the finest building of the last 175 years by RIBA (the Royal Institute of British Architects), after a poll of both professional and public opinion. Hugh Pearman, editor of the RIBA Journal, explained that it is "rooted in its urban context, and is a total work of art, from concept to fine detail," adding, "the building is superb, has stood the test of time magnificently, and is the deserved winner." The final choice had lain between Mackintosh's design and the Crystal Palace, which tells us much (in case we need to be reminded) about the hugely innovative architecture of the Victorian period. The verdict was no surprise.
Left: Side elevation (west). Right: Window above reception (interior). [Click on images to enlarge them.]
Writing nearly twenty years ago, the architectural historian James Stevens Curl accounted for something of the School of Art's extraordinary impact when he described its north front as having "certain Art-Nouveau elements judiciously mixed with a tough Scottish native style of building and motifs taken from factories, warehouses and the buildings of the Arts-and-Crafts Domestic Revival" (140).
Left: Close-up of stained glass. Right: Ironwork. [Click on images to enlarge them.]
Front (north) elevation. This image possibly comes from an old postcard [I have had this digital image for about two decades. I hope using it here does not violate copyright. — George P. Landow
Other Views and Related Material
Sources
Pearman, Hugh. Leader, RIBA Journal, June 2009. Viewed 9 July 2009.
Curl, James Stevens. Victorian Architecture. Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1990.
Last modified 7 June 2015