The House for an Art Lover

The History of House for an Art Lover

THE COMPETITION

 

In 1901, Glasgow’s most famous architect, Charles Rennie Mackintosh entered a competition to design a ‘House for an Art Lover’. The competition was set by a German design magazine which sought entries to design ‘a grand house in a thoroughly modern style’, and challenged architects to develop ideas which were fresh and innovative. Mackintosh worked on his submission together with his new wife, Margaret Macdonald and her sister Frances, both decorative artists. Unfortunately he submitted his designs just too late and  was disqualified before the competition even began, It’s widely accepted that if he had actually entered the competition he would have won. The designs were awarded a special prize for “their pronounced personal quality, their novel and austere form and the uniform configuration of interior and exterior.”  For the first time, Mackintosh and Macdonald were allowed complete freedom of artistic expression, their designs not conforming to client specification and demand

 

The sheer determination and conviction of  consulting engineer, Graham Roxburgh, led to building the House in the late eighties, over one hundred years after the designs were first created, the House now stands completed in Bellahouston Park. His dream to build the House for an Art Lover became a reality in 1989 when building work began.  However, recession in the early Nineties forced the project to be temporarily halted.  Building work resumed in 1994, revived by collaboration between Glasgow City Council and the Glasgow School of Art. 

http://www.houseforanartlover.co.uk/the-story/