Design for William Davidson. In the mid 1890s Mackintosh met William Davidson, a young Glasgow businessman, who commissioned him to design some furniture for his flat in Gladsmuir, his parents' house at Kilmacolm. About 1899 Davidson decided to build his own house, and Windyhill was the first of Mackintosh's private houses. It was completed in 1901 and still survives. Mackintosh designed the furniture for the hall, drawing room, schoolroom and principal bedroom, much of which survives in the GSA collection.
Design for William Davidson. In the mid 1890s Mackintosh met William Davidson, a young Glasgow businessman, who commissioned him to design some furniture for his flat in Gladsmuir, his parents' house at Kilmacolm. About 1899 Davidson decided to build his own house, and Windyhill was the first of Mackintosh's private houses. It was completed in 1901 and still survives. Mackintosh designed the furniture for the hall, drawing room, schoolroom and principal bedroom, much of which survives in the GSA collection.
Plan of proposed building. The competition for the Liverpool Anglican Cathedral was won by Giles Gilbert Scott. Mackintosh's design was unpremeditated, although it drew comment.
Architectural drawing showing east elevation, west elevation and section through library. The East elevation was little changed in the process of building, but by the time the West elevation came to be executed 1906-09, Mackintosh's ideas had altered radically.
Architectural drawing showing east/west elevations. 'The East elevation is as built... the West elevation has been completely redesigned. In 1897 the roof line falls with the steep slop of Scott Street: in 1907 the lower part of the site provides a base for a soaring tower block containing the Library which, if it has affinities with the spirit of the traditional Scottish tower house, is completely twentieth century in all its detailing... Other changes were made in the course of construction,... the ashlar of the blank wall on the left was replaced by undressed stone and... the normal sized doorway grew to colossal proportions, extending well above the line of the windows (Mackintosh's pencilled alterations are just visible on the drawing).' (McLaren Young).
Architectural drawing showing sub-basement floor. With one or two exceptions, a series of Mackintosh drawings appear to be the final 'working drawings' from which a 'finished' hand coloured set were based.
Architectural drawing showing various plans. This sketch shows how accommodation was arranged in the East wing of the GSA before the West wing was added and the building was completed in 1906-09.
Designed for the drawing room at Windyhill, Kilmacolm. The lights were originally designed for gas fittings. Early photos show additional decorative glass pendants, now missing.
This item was damaged in the Mackintosh Building fire in May 2014. Conservation was completed in 2020. Designed for the Ingram Street Tea Rooms, Glasgow. The Ingram Street Tea Rooms were purchased by Glasgow Corporation in 1951 for £25,000 and were then rented out as various shops and warehouses.
This item was damaged in the Mackintosh Building fire in May 2014. Conservation was completed in 2020. Designed for the Ingram Street Tea Rooms, Glasgow. The Ingram Street Tea Rooms were purchased by Glasgow Corporation in 1951 for £25,000 and were then rented out as various shops and warehouses.
Designed for the Willow Tea Rooms, Glasgow. This clock does not appear in any of the contemporary photographs of the Willow Tea Rooms, but the materials suggest that it was designed for the Billiards or Smoking Rooms, or the Black Saloons, which all had dark schemes of decoration. The projecting panels at the back are identical with those on the clock designed for the Ball dining room in Berlin. The front is hinged and opens to show shelves. This item was assessed for conservation in 2010 as part of the Mackintosh Conservation and Access Project (2006-2010).
Designed for the Willow Tea Rooms, Glasgow. There is no provenance for this table. Stylistically it has elements in common with some of the pieces designed for the Willow Tea Rooms; the row of glazed ovals is reminiscent of a similar feature in the fireplace in the Smoking Room. It could have come to the GSA with a number of other pieces of Willow furniture purchased from the Grosvenor Restaurant. (Roger Billcliffe). This item was assessed for conservation in 2010 as part of the Mackintosh Conservation and Access Project (2006-2010).
Designed for the hall at Windyhill, Kilmacolm. The benches were used in the hall and instead of chairs at the dining room table. This item was assessed for conservation in 2010 as part of the Mackintosh Conservation and Access Project (2006-2010).
Designed for entrance hall, Glasgow School of Art. This item was assessed for conservation in 2010 as part of the Mackintosh Conservation and Access Project (2006-2010).
This item was lost in the fire in The Mackintosh Building at The Glasgow School of Art on 23rd May 2014. Designed for Argyle Street Tea Rooms, Glasgow. A very similar table with a square top was also used in the Argyle Street Tea Rooms, and a white version appears in Annan's photograph of Mackintosh's drawing room in Mains Street. Top repaired and repolished 1985. This item was assessed for conservation in 2010 as part of the Mackintosh Conservation and Access Project (2006-2010).
Designed for 120 Mains Street, Glasgow and also for the Luncheon Room, Argyle Street Tea Rooms, Glasgow. Stylistically, the most advanced piece of furniture designed for Argyle Street and used by Mackintosh again in his own flat. The examples in the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the V&A in London were formerly in the GSA collection and donated by Douglas Percy Bliss, GSA director, in 1958. The horsehair and rush seats were reupholstered 1985-86. This item was assessed for conservation in 2010 as part of the Mackintosh Conservation and Access Project (2006-2010).
This item was lost in the fire in The Mackintosh Building at The Glasgow School of Art on 23rd May 2014. Designed for the White Dining Room, Ingram Street Tea Rooms, Glasgow. The basic chair used in the main dining room, and the Cloister Room in 1900. The original seat coverings were probably horsehair. Reupholstered in brown horsehair, 1984. The Ingram Street Tea Rooms were purchased by Glasgow Corporation in 1951 for £25,000 and were then rented out as various shops and warehouses. This item was assessed for conservation in 2010 as part of the Mackintosh Conservation and Access Project (2006-2010).
This item was lost in the fire in The Mackintosh Building at The Glasgow School of Art on 23rd May 2014. This item was assessed for conservation in 2010 as part of the Mackintosh Conservation and Access Project (2006-2010). Designed for Windyhill, Kilmacolm. Identical to MC/F/39 except that the ladder-back is continued below the seat with three slats instead of the one thin rail in MC/F/39. The provenance is unknown. Mackintosh's list of objects sent to the Turin exhibition includes 'two small green chairs' which were not sold and so returned to Glasgow. From the price and description it seems possible they were the same as the ladder-back chairs designed for the Windyhill bedroom. Possibly MC/F/40 is one of these.
This item was lost in the fire in The Mackintosh Building at The Glasgow School of Art on 23rd May 2014. Designed for the Room de Luxe, Willow Tea Rooms, Glasgow. Contemporary photos of the Willow Tea Rooms do not show where these tables would have been placed, the edge of one seems to be visible between the bow windows, but the legs are identical to those on the square or oblong tables for the Room de Luxe. Probably while the tables belonged to the Grosvenor Restaurant, they were over-painted black (like the yellow couch from the Dug-Out, MC/F/84). In 1986 the black paint was removed and the tables repainted silver with an aluminium paint similar to the original (paint sample analysed by Kelvingrove conservators). At the same time missing glass insets were replaced. This item was assessed for conservation in 2010 as part of the Mackintosh Conservation and Access Project (2006-2010).
Designed as the order desk, at the Willow Tea Rooms, Glasgow. 'One of the most impressive and novel of Mackintosh's chairs, it stood in the centre of the ground floor saloons, isolated and defining the point at which the white Front Saloon became the dark Back Saloon. Designed six months before the curved screen at Hous'hill, it plays the same role in acting as a transparent division between two spaces which are actually part of the same room... The front of the seat also serves as a small locker or chest... The chest was provided for the supervisor who took orders from the waitresses and passed them to the kitchen by dropping coloured balls, coded to each dish on the menu, down a tube to the kitchen below.' (Roger Billcliffe). Reupholstered in brown horsehair 1984 (the settle was originally upholstered in a green and gold striped horsehair, matching the Willow armchairs). This item was assessed for conversation in 2010 as part of the Mackintosh Conservation and Access project (2006-2010), and then again in 2018 following the fire in the Mackintosh Building in June 2018.
Designed for the Director's Room, Glasgow School of Art. Twelve chairs were made in 1904 for the GSA, but William Davidson acquired a further two, with six of MC/F/58 for use as dining chairs in the hall at Windyhill. Twelve chairs reupholstered in brown horsehair 1984. One chair on loan from Glasgow University, returned 1984. These items were assessed for conservation in 2010 as part of the Mackintosh Conservation and Access Project (2006-2010).
This item was lost in the fire in The Mackintosh Building at The Glasgow School of Art on 23rd May 2014. This item was assessed for conservation in 2010 as part of the Mackintosh Conservation and Access Project (2006-2010). Designed for the Director's Room, Glasgow School of Art. Twelve chairs were made in 1904 for the GSA, but William Davidson acquired a further two, with six of MC/F/58 for use as dining chairs in the hall at Windyhill. Twelve chairs reupholstered in brown horsehair 1984. One chair on loan from Glasgow University, returned 1984.
This item was lost in the fire in The Mackintosh Building at The Glasgow School of Art on 23rd May 2014. This item was assessed for conservation in 2010 as part of the Mackintosh Conservation and Access Project (2006-2010). Designed for the Director's Room, Glasgow School of Art. Twelve chairs were made in 1904 for the GSA, but William Davidson acquired a further two, with six of MC/F/58 for use as dining chairs in the hall at Windyhill. Twelve chairs reupholstered in brown horsehair 1984. One chair on loan from Glasgow University, returned 1984.
This item was lost in the fire in The Mackintosh Building at The Glasgow School of Art on 23rd May 2014. This item was assessed for conservation in 2010 as part of the Mackintosh Conservation and Access Project (2006-2010). Designed for Miss Cranston's home at Hous'hill, Nitshill, Glasgow. A white table was originally placed at the window of the music room in Hous'hill. It was purchased at the 1933 exhibition and loaned to the GSA by the same family who purchased half the White Bedroom suite. In 1920 (after the death of her husband) Miss Cranston sold the property with its furniture to Mr Gamble, who took much of the furniture with him when he left. In 1927 the house was leased to John Henderson, and in 1934 extensively damaged by fire and purchased by Glasgow Corporation for demolition; all the interior fittings were destroyed. It is not known where the black table was originally used in the house, or even if it indeed came from Hous'hill.
This item was lost in the fire in The Mackintosh Building at The Glasgow School of Art on 23rd May 2014. This item was assessed for conservation in 2010 as part of the Mackintosh Conservation and Access Project (2006-2010). Designed for Windyhill, Kilmacolm. A variant of the GSA armchair, acquired by Davidson for use as dining chairs in the hall at Windyhill. After 1919 they were used by him at 78 Southpark Avenue, Glasgow. Four chairs reupholstered in brown horsehair 1984. Four chairs on loan from Glasgow University, returned 1984.
This item was lost in the fire in The Mackintosh Building at The Glasgow School of Art on 23rd May 2014. This item was assessed for conservation in 2010 as part of the Mackintosh Conservation and Access Project (2006-2010). Designed for Windyhill, Kilmacolm. A variant of the GSA armchair, acquired by Davidson for use as dining chairs in the hall at Windyhill. After 1919 they were used by him at 78 Southpark Avenue, Glasgow. Four chairs reupholstered in brown horsehair 1984. Four chairs on loan from Glasgow University, returned 1984.
This item was lost in the fire in The Mackintosh Building at The Glasgow School of Art on 23rd May 2014. This item was assessed for conservation in 2010 as part of the Mackintosh Conservation and Access Project (2006-2010). Designed for the (new) Board Room, Glasgow School of Art. A more elaborate version of the chairs designed for the original Board Room in 1899 (MC/F/18).
This item was lost in the fire in The Mackintosh Building at The Glasgow School of Art on 23rd May 2014. This item was assessed for conservation in 2010 as part of the Mackintosh Conservation and Access Project (2006-2010). Designed for the (new) Board Room, Glasgow School of Art. A more elaborate version of the chairs designed for the original Board Room in 1899 (MC/F/18).
This item was lost in the fire in The Mackintosh Building at The Glasgow School of Art on 23rd May 2014. This item was assessed for conservation in 2010 as part of the Mackintosh Conservation and Access Project (2006-2010). Designed for the (new) Board Room, Glasgow School of Art. A more elaborate version of the chairs designed for the original Board Room in 1899 (MC/F/18).
This item was lost in the fire in The Mackintosh Building at The Glasgow School of Art on 23rd May 2014. This item was assessed for conservation in 2010 as part of the Mackintosh Conservation and Access Project (2006-2010). Podium used to raise the chair occupied by the Chairman of the Board of Governors at formal meetings. This item was depicted, in use, in Francis Newbery's group portrait of the Glasgow School of Art Building Committee, from c1913.
This item was lost in the fire in The Mackintosh Building at The Glasgow School of Art on 23rd May 2014. This item was assessed for conservation in 2010 as part of the Mackintosh Conservation and Access Project (2006-2010). Designed for the Oak Room, Ingram Street Tea Rooms, Glasgow. Probably designed to provide the basic seating unit in the Oak Room. An unusual design for Mackintosh in that it is a very strong chair and now used in the Glasgow School of Art library. These were introduced by the School into the library c.1950 as a replacement for the more fragile windsor chairs originally designed for the room. The chamfering along the back-rails of the chair anticipates the similar waggon-chamfering on the library balustrade. The Ingram Street Tea Rooms were purchased by Glasgow Corporation in 1951 for £25,000 and were then rented out as various shops and warehouses.
This item was lost in the fire in The Mackintosh Building at The Glasgow School of Art on 23rd May 2014. This item was assessed for conservation in 2010 as part of the Mackintosh Conservation and Access Project (2006-2010). Designed for the Oak Room, Ingram Street Tea Rooms, Glasgow. Probably designed to provide the basic seating unit in the Oak Room. An unusual design for Mackintosh in that it is a very strong chair and now used in the Glasgow School of Art library. These were introduced by the School into the library c.1950 as a replacement for the more fragile windsor chairs originally designed for the room. The chamfering along the back-rails of the chair anticipates the similar waggon-chamfering on the library balustrade. The Ingram Street Tea Rooms were purchased by Glasgow Corporation in 1951 for £25,000 and were then rented out as various shops and warehouses.
This item was lost in the fire in The Mackintosh Building at The Glasgow School of Art on 23rd May 2014. This item was assessed for conservation in 2010 as part of the Mackintosh Conservation and Access Project (2006-2010). Designed for the Oak Room, Ingram Street Tea Rooms, Glasgow. Probably designed to provide the basic seating unit in the Oak Room. An unusual design for Mackintosh in that it is a very strong chair and now used in the Glasgow School of Art library. These were introduced by the School into the library c.1950 as a replacement for the more fragile windsor chairs originally designed for the room. The chamfering along the back-rails of the chair anticipates the similar waggon-chamfering on the library balustrade. The Ingram Street Tea Rooms were purchased by Glasgow Corporation in 1951 for £25,000 and were then rented out as various shops and warehouses.
This item was lost in the fire in The Mackintosh Building at The Glasgow School of Art on 23rd May 2014. This item was assessed for conservation in 2010 as part of the Mackintosh Conservation and Access Project (2006-2010). Designed for the Oak Room, Ingram Street Tea Rooms, Glasgow. Probably designed to provide the basic seating unit in the Oak Room. An unusual design for Mackintosh in that it is a very strong chair and now used in the Glasgow School of Art library. These were introduced by the School into the library c.1950 as a replacement for the more fragile windsor chairs originally designed for the room. The chamfering along the back-rails of the chair anticipates the similar waggon-chamfering on the library balustrade. The Ingram Street Tea Rooms were purchased by Glasgow Corporation in 1951 for £25,000 and were then rented out as various shops and warehouses.
This item was lost in the fire in The Mackintosh Building at The Glasgow School of Art on 23rd May 2014. This item was assessed for conservation in 2010 as part of the Mackintosh Conservation and Access Project (2006-2010). Designed for the Oak Room, Ingram Street Tea Rooms, Glasgow. Probably designed to provide the basic seating unit in the Oak Room. An unusual design for Mackintosh in that it is a very strong chair and now used in the Glasgow School of Art library. These were introduced by the School into the library c.1950 as a replacement for the more fragile windsor chairs originally designed for the room. The chamfering along the back-rails of the chair anticipates the similar waggon-chamfering on the library balustrade. The Ingram Street Tea Rooms were purchased by Glasgow Corporation in 1951 for £25,000 and were then rented out as various shops and warehouses.
This item was lost in the fire in The Mackintosh Building at The Glasgow School of Art on 23rd May 2014. This item was assessed for conservation in 2010 as part of the Mackintosh Conservation and Access Project (2006-2010). Designed for the Oak Room, Ingram Street Tea Rooms, Glasgow. Probably designed to provide the basic seating unit in the Oak Room. An unusual design for Mackintosh in that it is a very strong chair and now used in the Glasgow School of Art library. These were introduced by the School into the library c.1950 as a replacement for the more fragile windsor chairs originally designed for the room. The chamfering along the back-rails of the chair anticipates the similar waggon-chamfering on the library balustrade. The Ingram Street Tea Rooms were purchased by Glasgow Corporation in 1951 for £25,000 and were then rented out as various shops and warehouses.
