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Summary

Description

Honeyman, Keppie and Mackintosh, 1904, reconstructed Herbert Barker, 1932. Six-storey, five- by three-bay office block, highly glazed with Mannerist detailing to attic and pavilion corners, with three shops at ground and fifth floor as attic storey. Sandstone ashlar with largely blank, brick rear (west) and side (south) elevation. Deep frieze and cornice at first floor cill course above ground. Tripartite windows to first through gallery-effect fourth floor. Moulded cills and cill course linking centre bays; deep continuous apron to fourth floor windows. Modillioned cornice.

East (Pitt Street) elevation: modern shop fronts. Slender pilasters flanking outer bays above ground, panelled divisions flanking centre windows. Timber tripartite windows at first floor with round-arched glazing over centre light. Corinthian column- mullions to second and third floor windows of centre bays; gently canted windows in outer bays at second and third floors, bracketted above first floor and with frieze as parapet at fourth bearing blank panel at centre. Deep-set windows at fourth floor with architraved surrounds. Tall attic floor with single windows to each bay, each with roll-moulded surround, moulded lintel, keystone and keystoned semi-circular pediment; outer pavilion bays slightly advanced with windows set in Mannerist aedicules, comprised of pedimented centre section breaking eaves with moulded detail above window, and breaking through lower pediment on paired, engaged and banded columns.

North (Sauchiehall Street) elevation: three-bays detailed as east elevation minus second and fourth bays. Fixed-pane timber windows, top hoppers, casement and sash and case, mostly with plate glass glazing. Flat roof. Substantial wallhead chimneystack to west.

Statement of Special Interest

Built to the designs of Glasgow-based firm Honeyman, Keppie and Mackintosh in 1903-06, the building was designed as a furniture shop for James Simpson & Sons, cabinetmakers and upholsterers. The approved drawings are signed by John Keppie and the style of the building indicates that he was repsonsible for the design. There is no documentary evidence to suggest that Charles Rennie Mackintosh had any involvement (Mackintosh Architecture).

Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928) was born in Glasgow and is regarded internationally as one of the leading architects and designers of the 20th century. His reputation is as a pioneer of Modernism but his architecture took much inspiration from Scottish Baronial, and Scottish and English vernacular forms and their reinterpretation. The synthesis of modern and traditional forms led to a distinctive form of Scottish arts and crafts design, known as 'The Glasgow Style'. This was developed in collaboration with contemporaries Herbert McNair, and the sisters Francis and Margaret Macdonald (who would become his wife in 1900), who were known as 'The Four'. The Glasgow Style is now synonymous with Mackintosh and the City of Glasgow.

Mackintosh is associated with over 150 wide-ranging design projects including work with the practice of John Honeyman & Keppie (Honeyman, Keppie & Mackintosh from 1901). His most significant work, during this partnership was the Glasgow School of Art built in two phases from 1897 and culminating in the outstanding library of 1907. The German concept of 'Gesamtkunstwerk', meaning the 'synthesis of the arts' is something that Mackintosh applied completely to all of his work, from the exterior to the internal decorative scheme and the furniture and fittings. Other key examples of his work include the Willow Tea Rooms (LB33173), the Glasgow Herald Building (now The Lighthouse) (LB33087) and Hill House (LB34761).

Listed building record revised in 2019.

References

Bibliography

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