Description

Scots Renaissance-style, asymmetrical, two-storey country house of stugged, squared masonry with polished dressings. Designed by Honeyman, Keppie and Mackintosh, 1906, now (1988) reduced by approximately one third and roughly L-plan. The main entrance elevation is U-plan with single storey porch in the left re-entrant angle; additional single storey billiard room extension with canted east end. Windows sash and case set behind stone transoms, upper sash small pane, lower plate glass. Wallhead parapets, gablehead and ridge stacks, slate roof.

Interior: lavishly fitted interior. The surviving rooms retain high quality panelling and plasterwork. Hall and Staircase: Jacobean style; two-thirds panelled, chequered black and white marble floor; stair with screen at foot, alternatively stick and cut-out balusters. Dining Room: an elaborately screened inglenook and green marble and timber chimney-piece. Panelled reveals to bay window. The Drawing Room: (now reduced in size) deep white and grey marble surround set into carved timber chimneypiece (carving displays sinuous details reminiscent of Mackintosh). The Billiard Room: elaborately panelled, Jacobean-style inglenook with marble fire surround; top lit. Small Study: panelled with small chimneypiece. First Floor Gallery: shallow plaster barrel vault with 17th century-style decorated panels.

Good door furniture survives. Garden Gate: rusticated masonry piers with obelisks. Elaborate cast iron gates in Jacobean-manner.

Statement of Interest

The architectural firm Honeyman, Keppie and Mackintosh were commissioned by the entrepreneurial baker, William Beattie, to create his estate at Mugdock, near Milngavie. This was one of the practice's largest architectural projects. This work is recorded in six distinct phases in the firm's job books over a period of around nine years and consisted of the building of a mansion house, two substantial gatelodges, gates and gate piers (LB15337), greenhouses, a stables complex, alterations to estate cottages and various garden works (Mackintosh Architecture).

The style of the mansion and ancillary buildings indicates that they were likely the work of John Keppie, which is supported by WS Moyes, who worked in the practice during this time (Mackintosh Architecture). Surviving drawing for the gatelodges and stables are signed by John Keppie, but may have been drawn by a number of different draughtsmen within the practice. The high-quality interior features neo-Jacobean panelling, carving and plasterwork, which is characteristic of Keppie (Mackintosh Architecture). There is no documentary or stylistic evidence of Mackintosh's involvement in the design of the buildings (2019).

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.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds: Cotswolds Pt. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)