A burnt-out case

JUNE 7th was the 150th anniversary of the birth of the architect and designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Glasgow has staged numerous events and exhibitions to mark the work of one of the city’s favourite sons, and his impact on British and European art. Virtually unknown during his lifetime, Mackintosh and his buildings have become one of the city’s biggest attractions.

Sadly the most famous, the Glasgow School of Art, finished in 1909, suffered a catastrophic fire on June 15th. The damage was so bad that it may be the end for this landmark building, an idiosyncratic melange of Scottish baronial, Japanese domestic and art nouveau. The art school was the most important example of the distinctive “Glasgow Style”.

Four years ago a previous fire had destroyed about a third of the building, including the famous library, crafted entirely by Mackintosh, from the desks to the lights. The latest fire was more devastating. At its height about 120 firefighters were battling the flames. Once again the library, which had been painstakingly restored, even down to sourcing Mackintosh’s original nails from America, was gutted. But this time, the rest of the interior suffered the same fate. Early reports suggest that automatic fire sprinklers had not yet been fitted as part of the building’s restoration.

Billy Hare, a professor of construction management at Glasgow Caledonian University, says “if it was any other building it would be demolished”, such is the damage. The cost of restoring the building after the previous fire was £35m. Mr Hare estimates that this time it could be more than £100m. It would be possible to do. There is a detailed 3D digital record of the building that would allow restorers to copy most of the original exactly. Local politicians have already voiced hopes that the much-loved art school could rise again. But some argue that this is not what Mackintosh would have wanted. Attempts to recreate the building now would amount to a pastiche or replica, not a restoration, and Mackintosh was an innovator, not an antiquarian. Anyway, Mr Hare notes, if it were rebuilt the building would again incorporate all the features that made it such a fire hazard in the first place. And heart-broken Mackintosh fans certainly don’t want to go through it all over again.

Perhaps the best way to honour Mackintosh’s radical spirit would be to invite submissions for an equally bold new design on the same site.