What's on in the area

Mackintosh House

Daily; not Sun

Cost: Free

Hours: Mon-Sat 9.30-12.30pm & 1.30pm-5pm; closed Good Fri-Easter Mon; May Day bank holidays; Fair Mon (third Mon of Jul) & Sep Weekend (last full weekend, Sat-Mon in Sep)

Now part of the Hunterian Art Gallery, attached to Glasgow University, the Mackintosh House is a faithful reconstruction - with much from the original house - of the home at 78 Southpark Avenue (originally 6 Florentine Terrace) that Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Margaret Macdonald made for themselves between 1906 and 1914.

Originally standing just 100 yards from the Hunterian Art Gallery, the house was purchased by Glasgow University in 1946, with an additional gift from the vendors, the Davidson family, of all the original furniture. Unfortunately, the structure was threatened by subsidence and with redevelopment occurring immediately adjacent, was scheduled for demolition in 1963. Thankfully, before demolition, an extensive survey was made while all salvageable fitments were removed to allow a reconstruction of the hall, dining room, studio-drawing room and main bedroom, as an integral part of the Hunterian Art Gallery.

While the Mackintosh's cloakroom, kitchen, bathroom and secondary bedrooms were not included in the reconstructions, engineered by architects Whitfield Partners and completed in 1981, the Mackintosh House faithfully restores the main rooms of one of the world's most fashionable houses.

Famed for his distinctive Art Nouveau style, Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928) and his wife, artist Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh (1864-1933), made extensive alterations as soon as they moved in, almost a century ago, remodelling the proportions and natural lighting of the Victorian end-of-terrace house. Mackintosh's disciplined austere style of decoration and furnishings are even more famous now than they were then, and for anybody interested in decor, this is a must.

In addition to the Mackintosh House and the Hunterian Art Gallery, William Hunter's original bequest to Glasgow University also includes the main museum housed in Sir George Gilbert Scott's neo-Gothic building, the zoological collection in the Graham Kerr Building, books and manuscripts in the Glasgow University Library, the anatomical collection in the Allen Thomson Building and pathological preparations at Glasgow's Royal Infirmary.

Mackintosh House