The Mackintosh House is situated adjacent to the Hunterian Art Gallery in the University of Glasgow. Guided tours operate on the half hour from 1000 to 1600 on weekdays and Saturdays. The Sunday timetable is from 1100 to 1500. A modest charge for the tours has recently been introduced of £5 per person (concessions at £3, under 18s free).
Charles Rennie Mackintosh and his wife lived in the house from 1906 to 1914. In 1906 substantial alterations were made as Mackintosh remodelled the proportions and natural lighting of the Victorian end-of-terrace house. The authentic Mackintosh House was demolished in the early 1960s. However the original fixtures were preserved and reassembled, complete with the contents, as an integral part of the Hunterian Art Gallery. The interiors, completed in 1981, have been furnished with the Mackintoshes’ own furniture – all to Mackintosh’s design – and decorated as closely as possible to the original. The selection of bric à brac, fitted carpets, curtains and other soft furnishings was based on contemporary descriptions of the house and photographs of Mackintosh interiors of the period.
This reconstruction is delightful and the attention to detail is astonishing. We could have spent ages soaking up the atmosphere in the house. However, all too soon the half hour tour was over. I spent some time viewing the art in the Hunterian, whilst my companions found much to interest them in the museum shop.
