 The Glasgow School of Art (167 Renfrew Street,
Glasgow) is probably the best known architectural work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh. It was built in two phases from 1897-1899 and 1907-1909 after Mackintosh had won the competition for the design of the building in 1896. As the school is still a working art school and taking internal pictures is not permitted I can only show you external pictures on this page. I recommend |
taking one of the guided tour to see the interiors, in particular the library.
On the left a view of the main entrance on Renfrew Street with the balcony and window of the Director's office directly above the entrance. Below a view of the northern elevation from the north-east, the eastern half of the building being the half built first. If you look carefully you will notice that the building is not perfectly symmetrical, even though the entrance is precisely central.
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 Above and left impressions of the west wing seen from Scott Street. Above a view of the southern and western face of the building, looking up
coming from Sauchiehall Street. Left a view from the corner of Renfrew Street and Scott Street. The large windows belong to the library, the windows at the very top belong to a studio. |
 Above a detail of the studio windows on the northern elevation, what looks only decorative actually has a practical purpose: A board can be placed on here to allow for easy cleaning of the windows
On the right a detail of the railings/fence in Renfrew Street. The metal roundels on top of the spar depict various animal forms (e.g. a bird, a bee or a beetle), although I'm unsure what this one is. |
