TWO serious fires in the space of four years at the Mackintosh building at Glasgow School of Art have done much to focus attention on the heritage buildings in Glasgow and beyond.
In the wake of the most recent blaze, earlier this month, Glasgow Labour MP Paul Sweeney made a telling point when he said that the city should undertake a “radical and very honest” review of the way it manages such buildings, and that a comprehensive strategy for preserving its ageing stock of Victorian architecture was urgently needed.
In such a context, it has been a cause of sadness that, some 30km west of Glasgow, another heritage building in the name of Mackintosh has been experiencing serious problems of its own, caused, in this case, by decades of wind and rain.
The Hill House, in Helensburgh, was designed by Mackintosh and his wife, the artist Margaret Macdonald, for the publisher Walter Blackie. Mackintosh opted for a then-experimental material, Portland cement, for a smooth layer of render on the building’s exteriors, but the choice was not a wise one, as, right from the beginning, the finish allowed rainwater to make its way into the sandstone. The situation has reached the point where the house’s long-term future was under threat. Finding a remedy became a priority.
The solution, as we report today, is a huge mesh box that will surround the property. It will keep off most of the rain and allow the walls to dry out while permitting conservation work to take place.
Moreover, the building will remain visible; and, once the box has been installed by the end of this year, visitors will be able to ascend an elevated walkway to visit the house.
The mesh box is a clever and practical solution, though not an inexpensive one: the National Trust for Scotland has already raised £3 million towards the project, and has raised two-thirds of the balance of £1.5 million.
But doing nothing was not an option. After all, as Carmody Groarke, the London architects who have devised the mesh box, are at pains to say, the Hill House is one of Scotland’s most acclaimed buildings and a seminal part of early 20th century European architecture, one that has a huge influence on architecture and design all over the world.
The project now in place at the Hill House is a sober reminder of the constant vigilance that is required if at-risk heritage buildings are to be preserved and rehabilitated.
Bodies such as the Glasgow Building Preservation Trust often do not get the recognition that is their due. These groups, as well as the NTS, deserve our gratitude.
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