DOI issue:
No. 117 (November, 1906)
DOI article:Taylor, J.: Modern decorative art at Glasgow: some notes on Miss Cranston's Argyle Street tea house
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.28250#0047
Modern Decorative Art at Glasgow
BILLIARD ROOM AT MISS CRANSTON’S DECORATIONS AND BILLIARD TABLES BY GEORGE WALTON
TEA HOUSE, ARGYLE STREET, GLASGOW CHAIRS, ETC., BY CHARLES R. MACKINTOSH
that because of its striking unfamiliarity compels
attention.
From the lofty vane on Belgian-like roof, where
a wrought-iron guard surrounds the chimney pots,
and the quaint dormer window with speckled glass
under the barge board, down to the sign of the
Tudor Rose over the unconventional entrance, it
all forms a fitting exterior for the modern art
within • and the architects for the reconstruction,
Messrs. H. and D. Barclay, seem to agree with
those who hold that there is an affinity between
that which is best in the old work and the new.
It is not easy to imagine what would be the
position of modern decorative art in Glasgow to-
day, apart from the group of tea-houses controlled
by Miss Cranston, for it is a remarkable fact that
while George Walton was yet a bank accountant, he
accepted a decorative commission connected with
a new smoking-room for one of these, and when
he abandoned finance to carry out this, his first
commission, decorative art may be said to have
entered on the new phase at Glasgow.
It was on the same group of tea-houses that
Charles R. Mackintosh began to establish a claim
to leadership in the new school at Glasgow, and
to inspire some of the younger men with the new
idea. No artist owes less to tradition than does
Mackintosh ■ as an originator he is supreme. The
critic who dismisses the new movement with a
sneer, or an unsympathetic allusion to its affinity
to early Greek art, has missed the charm of
intention that seeks to give a rational, a soothing
setting to the complex strenuousness of modern
existence. If communities could be formed in
ideal towns and hamlets, founded on the best
principles of the new art, the effect on individual
and national health and temperament would
quickly be manifest.
A glance at the various rooms of the Argyle
Street Tea-House is interesting as showing the
unity that may result when two strong individualists
apply their minds to the same problem.
On the original part of the house comprising
the three public floors from the street level upward,
all the panelling, the dividing wooden screens, the
grates, billiard tables, and decorations are by
George Walton; all the chairs, the benches, the
umbrella stands, and the electric fittings over the
billiard tables by Charles R. Mackintosh.
The tea-room on the ground floor is remarkable
for an excellent piece of craftsmanship in the
walnut panelling, the bridged stairway, and the
33
BILLIARD ROOM AT MISS CRANSTON’S DECORATIONS AND BILLIARD TABLES BY GEORGE WALTON
TEA HOUSE, ARGYLE STREET, GLASGOW CHAIRS, ETC., BY CHARLES R. MACKINTOSH
that because of its striking unfamiliarity compels
attention.
From the lofty vane on Belgian-like roof, where
a wrought-iron guard surrounds the chimney pots,
and the quaint dormer window with speckled glass
under the barge board, down to the sign of the
Tudor Rose over the unconventional entrance, it
all forms a fitting exterior for the modern art
within • and the architects for the reconstruction,
Messrs. H. and D. Barclay, seem to agree with
those who hold that there is an affinity between
that which is best in the old work and the new.
It is not easy to imagine what would be the
position of modern decorative art in Glasgow to-
day, apart from the group of tea-houses controlled
by Miss Cranston, for it is a remarkable fact that
while George Walton was yet a bank accountant, he
accepted a decorative commission connected with
a new smoking-room for one of these, and when
he abandoned finance to carry out this, his first
commission, decorative art may be said to have
entered on the new phase at Glasgow.
It was on the same group of tea-houses that
Charles R. Mackintosh began to establish a claim
to leadership in the new school at Glasgow, and
to inspire some of the younger men with the new
idea. No artist owes less to tradition than does
Mackintosh ■ as an originator he is supreme. The
critic who dismisses the new movement with a
sneer, or an unsympathetic allusion to its affinity
to early Greek art, has missed the charm of
intention that seeks to give a rational, a soothing
setting to the complex strenuousness of modern
existence. If communities could be formed in
ideal towns and hamlets, founded on the best
principles of the new art, the effect on individual
and national health and temperament would
quickly be manifest.
A glance at the various rooms of the Argyle
Street Tea-House is interesting as showing the
unity that may result when two strong individualists
apply their minds to the same problem.
On the original part of the house comprising
the three public floors from the street level upward,
all the panelling, the dividing wooden screens, the
grates, billiard tables, and decorations are by
George Walton; all the chairs, the benches, the
umbrella stands, and the electric fittings over the
billiard tables by Charles R. Mackintosh.
The tea-room on the ground floor is remarkable
for an excellent piece of craftsmanship in the
walnut panelling, the bridged stairway, and the
33