Hill House

On Friday morning a group of us met before breakfast to walk around part of the lake near our Inn in Loch Lomond. It was a nice sunny morning and there was a great view over the lake. I think Loch Lomond is one of my favourite spots.

Then we got the bus to The Hill House in Helensburgh. It was designed by the architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and his wife Margaret MacDonald, and built in 1904. It was nice to see an example of more modern architecture, specifically Art Nouveau. But the Hill House is actually a construction site at the moment - due to years of water damage and dampness to the house (which has resulted in cracked walls), the staff had to provide a temporary solution to dry out the house. The solution is building a steel box around the house to protect and shelter it from further decay. This major conservation project is very innovative. We got given hard helmets and high vis vests to wear.
The Curator and Conservator spoke to us about this project of ‘The Box’ and how they are unsure of exactly how long it will be up for - it could be 10 years or 50, but it gives them time to think of a long term plan to ultimately restore the house.
The continuing problem of the dampness is because of the faults in Charles Rennie Mackintosh’ design. Whilst aesthetically pleasing, it is not practical. He wanted the house to be Avantgarde by using sandstone rendered with cement for the exterior surface finish which has proved to be less durable than the traditional lime harl. The staff considered applying a lime wash to the exterior but this would tamper with the authenticity of Mackintosh’ original design which makes the house unique.
The house was designed for Walter and Anna Blackie who lived there from 1904 to 1954. Their grandchildren have donated items and part of the furniture back to the house.
We walked around the house - due to risk of water, all the precious furniture items have been moved out into storage and some are on display in an exhibition space at the Lighthouse in Glasgow. The remaining items within the house have been covered with plastic.
Nevertheless, the interior of the house was still cool - I liked the motifs within the room, the colour purple and the pink roses, and elements of Art Nouveau.
After we had a look, we split into two groups and had a debate about whether we thought it was more important to preserve the original material of the structure, or the design.
The Hill House tells a story. It is fundamentally evidence of a lesson to be learnt - a lesson on the importance of practicality versus aesthetic. Thus it is important to preserve the house as Mackintosh originally designed it as it was building experiment, and the materials are part of its historic story.