Turn
of the twentieth century
 Charles
Rennie Mackintosh is regarded as one of the greatest influences
on architecture this century. His all too short career spanned
the turn of the century and produced a variety of innovative
buildings and interiors around his birthplace of Glasgow. Some
see Mackintosh as a modernist, others as the link between Art
Nouveau and Art Deco. He was probably neither, drawing his inspiration
as much from classical shapes as the new industrial art which
was beginning to prevail all over Europe.
Mackintosh was not just an architect. His design brilliance
extended to the interiors of the buildings that he designed.
Together with his wife Margaret, Mackintosh believed that the
interior layout was as important as the exterior form and designed
individual items to compliment the total look of the building.
Fireplaces were, in his opinion, the ‘glowing focus with
decorative and symbolic interest’. It was important for
him that each design should meld into the room and be personalised
for the needs of the owner. His most famous brief was Hill House
in Dumbarton, which he designed for the publisher, Blackie.
In this house each fireplace is different. The living room design
has niches for ornaments, while the fireplace in the library
links areas of the room to form a whole. Each has been thought
through and tailored so that is part of the room, not just a
fitting.
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