Mackintosh Illuminated
ntsusa.org
Executive Summary
The Hill House in Helensburgh, a suburb of Glasgow, designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh and with interiors and artwork created in collaboration with Margaret Macdonald, photographed shortly after completion in 1904
The National Trust for Scotland proudly safeguards two architectural gems by Charles Rennie Mackintosh: the Hill House and Mackintosh at the Willow. Mackintosh (1868–1928) was a pioneer in architecture and design who left an indelible mark on the Arts and Crafts movement. Globally renowned for his avant-garde approach, he seamlessly melded elements of traditional Scottish architecture with influences from Japanese design and the Art Nouveau style. Mackintosh worked alongside his wife, the artist Margaret Macdonald (1864–1933), to conceive spaces that are total works of art—gesamtkunstwerke— incorporating architecture, furniture, textiles, metalwork, and graphic arts into a unified artistic experience. Together, this visionary couple helped set the world on the path to Modernism. Mackintosh Illuminated brings together the conservation of Mackintosh and Macdonald’s physical legacy with fully accessible digital content and community and educational outreach that will position this great artistic partnership as one of the most important in international design history. We invite you to join us as we shine a light on the remarkable legacy of two of Scotland’s greatest cultural icons.
The Hill House under its protective box
Margaret Macdonald’s gesso panel The Sleeping Princess (above) and Mackintosh’s worldfamous ladderback Hill House Chair (below)
Saving Mackintosh Masterpieces: The Hill House Built from 1902 to 1904 for Glasgow book publisher Walter Blackie, the Hill House stands as Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s domestic masterpiece and one of the most important Modern buildings in the world. The Hill House’s austere external aesthetic was influenced by Scottish vernacular architecture and contrasts with the adventurous Glasgow Style interior designed in collaboration with his wife, artist and designer Margaret Macdonald. In its most famous rooms, the couple’s total approach to design, which pays attention to every detail from stained glass and textiles to light fittings and furniture, reaches its breathtaking height. A revolutionary designer, Mackintosh incorporated cuttingedge building materials and techniques to execute his artistic vision. However, the Hill House’s external coating of Portland cement has proven susceptible to water ingress over the past 120 years, exacerbated by the wet climate on the west coast of Scotland, where it rains more than 260 days per year. The walls have become saturated and started to crumble, with damp and dry rot threatening its worldfamous interiors. To prevent further damage, in 2018 the National Trust for Scotland embarked on a pioneering conservation approach: erecting the Box, a protective chainmail shelter that has allowed the Hill House to slowly dry out. The Box must be removed in 2028. Before then, the Hill House will be made watertight, its concrete cladding removed and replaced with new exterior finish. By saving the building and restoring its precious and groundbreaking interiors, we will ensure its enduring influence on design.
A House of Treasures The Hill House features evocative interiors and priceless art and design. These include: • Walter Blackie’s library, complete with his original Victorian writing desk and over 1,000 books. Blackie commissioned cover designs by leading artists of the day, including Mackintosh, for books he published. • The stunning gesso panel, The Sleeping Princess, created by Margaret Macdonald for the Drawing Room mantlepiece, where it remains. • Mackintosh stencils throughout, including a fairy-tale frieze in the day nursery, currently painted over, which we hope to uncover and restore. • Mackintosh-designed furniture and fittings, as in the exquisite White Bedroom, where carefully placed ladderback chairs act as trellises for stenciled roses on the wall behind. These designs have inspired generations of creativity, including Loewe’s men’s collection during Paris Fashion Week 2025, as well as Louis Vuitton and Issey Miyake.
The classic interiors of Mackintosh at the Willow
Saving Mackintosh Masterpieces: Mackintosh at the Willow Mackintosh at the Willow, which dates to 1903 and sits in the heart of Glasgow’s city center, is the only surviving of four tea rooms designed by Mackintosh and Macdonald for trailblazing entrepreneur Miss Catherine Cranston. Her tea rooms were a popular setting for socializing in early 20th-century Glasgow, especially for women. Patrons had never seen anything like Mackintosh and Macdonald’s daringly stylized interiors, and their design was highly influential on the development of the Modern style in Europe and beyond. Following decades of closure and deterioration, the Willow Tea Rooms Trust (WTRT) saved the building in 2014 and undertook a major restoration project to preserve its original design, replicating its furnishings so it could be brought back into full use as a restaurant and creating exhibition and learning spaces to enable outreach programs. The National Trust for Scotland acquired the property in 2024 to safeguard its future following a period of uncertainty caused by the cumulative impact of the fires at The Glasgow School of Art and the Covid-19 pandemic. Mackintosh at the Willow provides us with the opportunity to link the architect’s masterful design for a family home, the Hill House, with his concurrent and no less innovative commercial work for Miss Cranston. Together, these two buildings tell the story of Glasgow at the turn of the last century, as well as the story of one of Scotland’s greatest artistic partnerships.
“Margaret has genius, I have only talent ” The admiring words of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, speaking of his wife Margaret Macdonald’s art
Margaret Macdonald and Charles Rennie Mackintosh by Jean-Pierre Dalbé (Musée de Palalda)
Securing Mackintosh and Macdonald’s Legacy
Meeting Critical Community Needs
Charles Rennie Mackintosh was a groundbreaking designer whose continuing influence is felt far beyond Scotland. But recent years have not been kind to Mackintosh’s work, and there is deepening public concern for his legacy. Fires in 2014 and 2018 have left only a shell of The Glasgow School of Art’s Mackintosh Building, one of the city’s most iconic landmarks. Other sites designed by Mackintosh, like The Lighthouse and Scotland Street School, have closed. The momentum to celebrate Mackintosh and his artistic vision has slowed.
Our work is not just about heritage – it’s about people.
Margaret Macdonald was a pioneering and accomplished artist in her own right, studying alongside her future husband at The Glasgow School of Art. As a collaborator and an artistic equal, she helped define the Glasgow Style. Together, Macdonald and Mackintosh were selected to exhibit at the avant-garde Vienna Secession exhibition in 1900, where the international art world was entranced by their design for a tea room. Their work influenced Gustav Klimt, Josef Hoffman, and even Frank Lloyd Wright. But Macdonald’s legacy is still too often overlooked. As part of Mackintosh Illuminated, we will highlight an understanding and appreciation of the couple working in tandem and their vital joint role in the development of International Modernism. We believe that there is a real opportunity for the National Trust for Scotland to lead efforts to celebrate Mackintosh and Macdonald, contributing to the renewal of Glasgow’s city center and more widely to the understanding of conservation issues associated with Modernist buildings. Indeed, the Trust—with its significant holdings and expertise, as well as its mission to protect Scotland’s special places and share them with everyone—is ideally positioned to head up this initiative. Mackintosh Illuminated activities are scheduled to run through 2028, which marks the centennial of Mackintosh’s death and the 160th anniversary of his birth.
Glasgow is a city steeped in history and with a thriving artistic culture. But it is also home to 47 of the 100 most deprived housing estates in Britain. Many communities close to Mackintosh at the Willow face poverty, poor health, and unemployment. Before reopening in 2014, Mackintosh at the Willow partnered with The King’s Trust to support skilled employment training for individuals of low socio-economic status. At Mackintosh at the Willow, they have flourished in hospitality and education roles. A key goal of Mackintosh Illuminated is to increase work with underserved communities in both Glasgow and Helensburgh, providing education programs, hands-on training, and partnerships that will help access opportunity while also sparking creativity and joy for new audiences and local visitors.
Priority Activities and Timeline The goal of Mackintosh Illuminated is to transform global understanding of two of Scotland’s greatest cultural figures, employing the most important surviving and publicly accessible examples of their designs: their domestic masterpiece the Hill House, located in Helensburgh, and Mackintosh at the Willow in their home city of Glasgow. Mackintosh Illuminated will be implemented in two phases over five years. Phase One is focused on urgent preparatory work to conserve the Hill House, as well as development of learning and interpretive strategies. In Phase Two, we will deliver an expansive program of capital conservation, public engagement, and community outreach. Activities will include: 1. An internationally significant project to conserve the Hill House, exploring solutions for damp penetration in roughcast cement structures with sector-wide impact for the preservation of early Modern buildings worldwide 2. Championing craftmanship and heritage skills with bespoke training and apprenticeships designed to nurture skills in traditional building and modern conservation methods, as well as decorative arts like furniture making, stained glass, and textiles 3. A new, net-zero Visitor Center at the Hill House, which will include sustainable visitor facilities like a café and shop, as well as a robust program of interpretation and exhibitions 4. A restored garden and woodland at the Hill House, maximizing biodiversity, contributing to carbon capture, and linking to the cross-Scotland John Muir Way, which passes through the site 5. An online hub for the National Trust for Scotland’s collection of Mackintosh and Macdonald writings and designs, allowing access and exploration by visitors from around the world
6. Positioning Mackintosh at the Willow at the center of learning about arts, history, design and architecture—and their relation to STEM—sparked by the legacy of Mackintosh and Macdonald. We will tell their stories, showcase their achievements, and put into context the times they lived in and the people they inspired. We will diversify the property’s reach beyond its 250,000 annual visitors for the benefit of the city and people of Glasgow, working within a revitalized Sauchiehall Street 7. Appointing a Community Engagement Officer to actively engage with communities who have historically faced barriers to participation, including ethnically diverse communities, lowincome households, and disabled people, ensuring the relevance, accessibility and long-term sustainability of efforts 8. Identifying and partnering with likeminded organizations to celebrate the creative genius of Mackintosh and Macdonald, linking with initiatives such as the Sauchiehall Street Cultural and Heritage District project
Outcomes and Impact Theirs is a story told so far only in fragments: how two incredible talents arose amid the dynamism of late nineteenth-century Glasgow to create an architectural and artistic vision that continues to resonate worldwide. Mackintosh Illuminated will: • Transform public understanding and elevate the legacy of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Margaret Macdonald • Spark creativity and inspire new communities through learning, engagement, and outreach, both digitally and in person • Tackle the urgent conservation needs of the Hill House with a world class, researchled strategy that secures the building’s future and contributes to global thinking on sustainable methods of the preservation of 20th-century architecture
Project Costs and Funding The total cost of Mackintosh Illuminated is $26 million over five years. The National Trust for Scotland has secured foundational funding of $1.5 million from the National Lottery Heritage Fund toward Phase One, with a further $9.5 million pledged for delivery. We now need to bridge a gap of over $15 million to bring this project to life, and we welcome all support. A list of naming opportunities will be available shortly.
About the National Trust for Scotland The National Trust for Scotland is Scotland’s largest conservation charity. Since 1931, we have pioneered public access to and shared ownership of some of the most magnificent buildings, collections and landscapes in Scotland. We care for historic houses, battlefields, castles, mills, gardens, coastlines, islands and mountain ranges, as well as the plants, animals and birds that live there. Without our involvement, many of these places and their priceless collections, nature and wildlife would be at risk of being lost forever. Our vision is nature, beauty and heritage for everyone.
About The National Trust for Scotland Foundation USA The National Trust for Scotland Foundation USA is an independent American nonprofit organization that exists to support the work of the National Trust for Scotland. Over 25 years, NTSUSA has cultivated a community that extends across all 50 states, connecting individuals living in America with opportunities to protect Scotland’s heritage and natural beauty now and for future generations. Since 2000, we have committed more than $12 million in funding for the Trust’s most urgent conservation priorities at sites that are integral to the story of Scotland.
Contact us mail@ntsusa.org | 617-227-7500 The National Trust for Scotland Foundation USA 4 South Market Street, 4th Floor Boston, MA 02109
ntsusa.org The National Trust for Scotland Foundation USA, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) organization registered in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Federal Tax ID No. 04-3511088