The New-Old Mackintosh Tearoom

Archives, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Glasgow Life, Glasgow Museums, Heritage Lottery Fund, V&A

Those of you who are eagerly following the progress of the new V&A Dundee will no doubt have noticed the recent announcement confirming that the V&A will have a restored Charles Rennie Mackintosh interior as one of its central exhibits when it opens in 2018. The Dundee V&A Team have joined forces with our local Glasgow Museums to reassemble the Oak Room from the Ingram Street Tearooms.

Ingram Street Tearooms. Image courtesy of V&A Dundee

After its use as a set of tearooms the Ingram St. Tearooms were purchased by the Glasgow Corporation in 1951 and rented out to small warehouses and shops, used for storage and as a souvenir shop before the interiors were finally removed in 1971. The Glasgow Corporation transferred the tearooms to Glasgow Museums in 1978 with a total of 600 pieces of the interior being salvaged.

The Oak Room itself was designed by Mackintosh between 1900 and 1912, and upon its removal each room was numbered, given a reference and recorded alongside architectural plans and elevations to assist with its re-assembly at a later date. Since then only a small part of the room has been on display in Glasgow. This new display at the V&A intends to completely re-assemble the entire space for the public to see for the first time in almost 50 years.

Ingram Tearooms display. Image courtesy of Glasgow Museums

The Tearoom will be the centrepiece of V&A Dundee’s Scottish Design Galleries when the museum opens to the public in 2018. This set of galleries will showcase the work of Scottish Designers with displays ranging across different design disciplines, including furniture, architecture, design and fashion. More information on this project and the progress of the V&A Dundee can be found here.

In the GSA Archives and Collections we of course have several pieces of furniture that were designed by Mackintosh for these tea rooms, including tables designed especially for playing Dominos (everyone needs a decent Domino table), chairs for the Chinese Room as well as Barrel chairs.