House for an Art Lover Garden.

Today I had a business lunch at the House for an Art Lover in Glasgow. This photo however shows only a glimpse of the Rennie Mackintosh building in the background, as I wanted to capture the colourful flowers that greet you as you walk towards the entrance.

Situated in Bellahouston Park, House of the Art Lover not only contains much art, but has a quite excellent restaurant in a building with typical Rennie Mackintosh style. It was very conducive to a successful lunch, and I enjoyed a few minutes strolling outside amidst the flowers before heading for home.

This is an unusual building in that although designed for a competition in Germany in 1900, it was only in 1989 in Glasgow that it was actually built! Here is some interesting information taken from the House for an Art Lover website:

"For 90 years Mackintosh’s concept remained merely that, an unrealised design on paper, until 1989 when Graham Roxburgh, the Consulting Engineer, who had been responsible for restoring the Mackintosh interiors in nearby Craigie Hall had the idea to build the House for an Art Lover.

The drawings which Mackintosh produced, although very detailed for a competition entry, were not intended as technical plans from which the house would be built. This task, to interpret Mackintosh’s drawings and turn them into reality was the challenge which faced the team of architects led by Professor Andy MacMillan, then Head of Architecture at Glasgow School of Art. Work began on building the House in 1989, but before the first brick could be laid lots of detective work was needed to fill the gaps where Mackintosh’s drawings which showed only the sketchiest details. In some places there were inconsistencies between the exterior form of the building and the interior and MacMillan and his team had to pick their wits to resolve the plan of the House and to flesh out details for the interiors. Other buildings which Mackintosh had completed during his life time were crucial in providing clues for the House for an Art Lover."

If you have never visited it, I suggest you do sometime, and stop off for lunch.