Description

Charles Rennie Mackintosh 1899. Halls and janitor's house around courtyard to south of Church. Asymmetrical two-storey elevation to street, tall single-storey hall at rear. Grey and snecked ashlar.

West elevation: wide south bay with ground and first floor windows in recessed panel under shallow arch supported on impost blocks, gablet above with symbolic niche. Windows with segmental heads linked in Art Nouveau design. Doorpiece at centre with wide curved margins and lintel supported on plain brackets, shallow segmental window over. Four-light window with shallow swan-neck detail to north. Two first floor windows with projecting curved cills. Curved stair bay at north with three tall narrow lipped windows. Slate roofs behind parapet.

Buttressed elevation to courtyard with asymmetrical east domestic range, two-storeys with stair turret.

Interior: ground floor full-height hall; wide, heavy, bolted, collar and tie beam roof with curved bracing. Canted east end with Art Nouveau curved headed, multi-paned window. Walls two-thirds panelled with deep cornice. Hall extension to south with tall folding doors similarly detailed. All doors with typical Mackintosh detailed glazed panels. Curved stair with stylised cut-out detail in landing balustrade. Quiet Room and Upper Hall on first floor divided by tall doors with ogee design. Both with boarded two-thirds panelling. Upper hall top lit with rafter roof.

Statement of Interest

Was initially listed as Ruchill Street then listed as 17 Shakespeare Street following re-alignment of road. Re-numbered again as 26 Ruchill Street (2005). Now (2009) known again as 17 Shakespeare Street. Ruchill Parish Church listed seperately (LB32355).

There are surviving drawings by Mackintosh indicating that he designed the halls. There are also stylistic similarities with the almost contemporary Glasgow School of Art (LB33105) and Queen's Cross Church (LB33764), supporing the view that Mackintosh was responsible for this design at Ruchill (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. He became known as a pioneer of Modernism, although 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's work is wide-ranging and includes public, educational and religious buildings to private houses, interior decorative schemes and sculptures. He is associated with over 150 design projects, ranging from being the principal designer, to projects he was involved with as part of the firm of John Honeyman & Keppie (Honeyman, Keppie & Mackintosh from 1901). The most important work during this partnership was the Glasgow School of Art (LB33105), which was built in two phases from 1897 and culminated in the outstanding library of 1907.

Other key works include the Willow Tea Rooms (LB33173), the Glasgow Herald Building (now The Lighthouse) (LB33087) and Hill House (LB34761), which display the modern principles of the German concept of 'Gesamtkunstwerk', meaning the 'synthesis of the arts'. This is something that Mackintosh applied completely to all of his work, from the exterior to the internal decorative scheme and the furniture and fittings.

Mackintosh left Glasgow in 1914, setting up practice in London the following year. Later he and Margaret moved to France, where until his death, his artistic output largely turned to textile design and watercolours.

Listed building record revised in 2019.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Ruchill Church Hall at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q7376595

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

• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas