The Oval Room

It has been raining most of the day. I had a lunch meeting at the House for an Art Lover and after an excellent lunch I popped up to the the Oval Room to take a few shots.

This was originally the Ladies Room, where Edwardian ladies were expected to withdraw after dining with their gentlemen. It is delicately formed in an oval shape, Mackintosh’s customary feminine symbol. The oval shape is expressed throughout the room incorporating the window as well the fireplace, wall cupboards and the stained glass ceiling light.

A room like this would have been ground breaking in the early 1900s. Its clean lines and light airy atmosphere contrasted sharply with the dark and often cluttered interiors of many Victorian houses.

Within Charles Rennie Mackintosh's 1901 competition design for a ‘Grand Residence for an Art Lover’ no interior details were given for this room. The light fitting, fireplace and window seats were created from photographic evidence of a related design from another Mackintosh interior – Hous’hill (now demolished).