The Hill House is a private villa in

Helensburgh Helensburgh ( ; ) is a town on the north side of the Firth of Clyde in Scotland, situated at the mouth of the Gareloch. Historically in Dunbartonshire, it became part of Argyll and Bute following local government reorganisation in 1996. Histo ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, created by

Charles Rennie Mackintosh Charles Rennie Mackintosh (7 June 1868 – 10 December 1928) was a Scottish architect, designer, water colourist and artist. His artistic approach had much in common with European Symbolism. His work, alongside that of his wife Margaret Macd ...

and his wife,

Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh (5 November 1864 – 7 January 1933) was a British artist who worked in Scotland, and whose design work became one of the defining features of the Glasgow Style during the 1890s to 1900s. Biography Born Margaret M ...

, who were both architects and designers. It was built in the British Modern Style for the publisher Walter Blackie in 1902–1904. The design and construction techniques used were considered innovative for the time. Margaret Mackintosh also designed the house interior, including furniture and fittings. In 1982, the house was donated to the

National Trust for Scotland The National Trust for Scotland () is a Scottish Building preservation and conservation trusts in the UK, conservation organisation. It is the largest membership organisation in Scotland and describes itself as "the charity that cares for, sha ...

, which maintains and opens the house to visitors.

Construction

In 1902, Walter Blackie, a publisher from

Blackie and Son Blackie & Son was a publishing house in Glasgow, Scotland, and London, England, from 1809 to 1991.Iain Stevenson, ''Book Makers: British Publishing in the Twentieth Century''. London: The British Library, 2010, p. 77. History The firm was foun ...

, commissioned

to design the house. Talwin Morris, art director for Blackie and Son, recommended that Blackie work with Mackintosh. Blackie had specific requirements for the construction, seeking grey rough-cast walls and a slate roof instead of traditional materials like bricks and wood beams with red-tiled roofs commonly used in the west of Scotland. He also emphasized architectural effects through the massing of the parts rather than ornamentation, granting Mackintosh creative freedom in his design ideas. Mackintosh observed the everyday life of the Blackie family before creating any drawings, aiming to tailor the house to the needs of its occupants by addressing functional aspects before developing the design. There have been reports of the house being haunted by the ghost of Walter Blackie. This includes sightings of a tall, slender figure dressed in black with a long black cape vanishing after entering the bedroom. Witnesses have also reported smelling cigar smoke in the house without any discernible source.

Exterior

The Hill House was designed and built by Charles Mackintosh and his wife, Margaret MacDonald, for a fee of £5,000. Its exterior exhibits an asymmetrical design. Mackintosh was influenced by A. W. N. Pugin’s picturesque utility, where the exterior contour evolves from the interior planning. Mackintosh’s approach, influenced by Pugin, featured minimal exterior decoration in contrast to his more detailed interior work. He achieved this by making the transition from the outside world into a more inviting interior space. Paint analysis of the

harl Harling is a roughcast, rough-cast wall finish consisting of lime and aggregate, known for its rough texture. Many castles and other buildings in Scotland and Ulster have walls finished with harling. It is also used on contemporary buildings, w ...

ing on the exterior shows that it might have initially been left as an unpainted pale grey.

Preservation (2019–2028)

Mackintosh selected

Portland cement Portland cement is the most common type of cement in general use around the world as a basic ingredient of concrete, mortar (masonry), mortar, stucco, and non-specialty grout. It was developed from other types of hydraulic lime in England in th ...

harling, then a newly introduced product, for the surface finish. This harling was found to be less durable than traditional lime harling, and by 2017, it was discovered to be in a precarious condition, putting the integrity of the whole building at risk. As a temporary solution, the

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

enclosed the Hill House in a transparent, porous "box" made of chainmail in 2019, allowing some movement of air so that the structure dries out gradually. The steel box is set to remain in place until 2028. As with several of Mackintosh's buildings, there were problems of water ingress from the outset. In 1953, then-owner Campbell Lawson commissioned Glasgow architect Margaret Brodie to redesign details to resolve this issue.

Interior

The mansion incorporated the

Edwardian period In the United Kingdom, the Edwardian era was a period in the early 20th century that spanned the reign of King Edward VII from 1901 to 1910. It is commonly extended to the start of the First World War in 1914, during the early reign of King Ge ...

’s traditional association of an intimate interior space with "femininity" and exterior public spaces with "masculinity". Mackintosh's design approach involved introducing elements traditionally considered "masculine" into the interior, departing from the ornate, conventionally "feminine" interiors typical of the period. This method enabled variations in the atmosphere and experience of different spaces according to their intended functions.

References

External links