The Willow Tea Rooms, Glasgow
The Willow Tea Rooms are my choice for ‘Interiors’ because it really is the most fabulous interior you could possibly imagine, In
December 1983, Anne Mulhern recreated the Room de Luxe in the original
location and the Willow Tea Rooms were reborn. It is possible to sit in
these rooms, surrounded by the décor designed and installed by Charles
rennie Mackintosh over 100 years ago
Charles Rennie Mackintosh
(b. Glasgow, Scotland 1868; d. London, England 1928)
Charles Mackintosh was born in Glasgow, Scotland
in 1868, he began an apprenticeship with John Hutchinson in 1884 and
began attending evening classes at the Glasgow School of Art. In 1889 he
became an architectural assistant with Honeyman & Keppie and
enrolled at the Glasgow School of Art. In 1890 he won a travelling
scholarship and toured Italy before settling down into practice.
While
the Glasgow School of Art, Mackintosh developed a close relationship
with Margaret MacDonald, her sister Frances Macdonald and is friend
Herbert McNair. The were collectively known as "The Four". ‘The Four’
were at the forefront of the Glasgow
based movements in Art and Design. They were part of the groups of
artists known as ‘The Glasgow Boys’ and ‘The Glasgow Girls’. These
people revolutionised concepts in art and design throughout Europe. During the late 19C & early 20C. They were recognised internationally and exhibited posters, furnishings, and a variety of graphic designs in Glasgow, London, Vienna and Turin.
Mackintosh disregarded the architecture of Greece and Rome he believed in Scotland’s own heritage, he saw no need to ‘borrow’ classicism from ancient Rome or Greece.
His buildings clearly demonstrate this belief. Mackintosh created
buildings notable for the elegance and clarity of their spatial
concepts, the skilful exploitation of natural and artificial lighting,
and skillful detailing. He felt that each design should work as a whole
to which each carefully contrived detail contributes. He did not design
buildings as empty shells to be filled by others, he with the assistance
of his contemporaries designed every detail of a project from the
exterior roof tiles to the interior furniture. His wife, (he actually
married Margaret Macdonald), her sister Frances Macdonald (who had
married Herbert McNaitr) and several of their friends from the Glasgow
based Arts and Crafts movement contributed much of the interior design
for many of his projects.
In
1913 Mackintosh left the firm of Honeyman, Keppie & Mackintosh
where he had been a partner since 1904. After unsuccessfully trying to
establish his own practice, he dedicated his time to landscape painting.
The Willow Tea Rooms Commentary
The Willow Tea Rooms in Glasgow
is one of the most famous Mackintosh projects. Although it is generally
credited to him as a whole, many parts of the interior décor and most
of the utensils, including the menu cards, table lined, china, cutlery
and much more, was in fact designed by |Margaret and Frances Macdonald
and some of their fellow artists from the Glasgow Arts and Crafts
Movement. The Willow Tea Rooms were designed for Miss Cranston, they
occupy a narrow infill slot on Sauchiehall Street
(Scots word, which means alley of willows). The four story building
facade sits carefully in its urban context. Its top cornice generally
aligns with the four story buildings on each side. The pedestrian and
most public levels are distinguished from the more private upper stories
with an intermediate cornice, and large central windows of these first
two floors contrast with smaller windows in the wall of the upper
stories. In contrast, however, to the neighbouring masonry facades, dark
and heavily detailed, the Tea Rooms are stuccoed white, and the small
paned windows, iron standards and window braces, and ornamental tile
inserts give it an elegance and lightness appropriate for its purpose.
The
facade is a subtly crafted asymmetric composition. The first two floors
have large central windows, although the door is placed to one far
side. The second floor is bowed over the first, so the first floor
window and door are slightly recessed. The upper two floors have larger
windows in a smaller bow positioned above the door, repeating the motif
of the second floor but also distinguishing the importance of the door
and the circulation system behind it from the rooms.
The
ground floor of the building extends back into the block, with a skylit
mezzanine level overlooking the ground floor dining. Stairs lead up to
rooms overlooking the street at the second, third and fourth floors,
with the most important Room de Luxe behind the large bow window.
"The
Room de Luxe, being the most complete and best known of Mackintosh's
tea room interiors, is on the first floor overlooking the street. Its
white walls, silver painted high-backed chairs, crisp white tablecloths
and blue willow-pattern crockery, soft grey carpet, chairs and settees
covered in a rich purple, leaded mirror glass, enamels in pastel pinks
and mauves, and the famous leaded-glass doorway, combine to create a
glittering elegance, widely celebrated."
"Mackintosh and his small group of associates were responsible
for both the decorative scheme and the structure of the building,
(Mackintosh taking full responsibility for the structure of the
building) which occupies four storeys on a narrow site. The interior
consists of various tea rooms, two major dining rooms, a dining gallery,
and a timber-panelled billiards room on the top floor."
The Creator's Words, by Mackintosh………………..
"(The
artist) must posses technical invention in order to create for himself
suitable processes of expression - and above all he requires the aid of
invention in order to transform the elements with which nature supplies
him - and compose new images from them."
