The Hill House, Helensburgh Evaluation of condition and significance Andrew PK Wright July 2012 The Hill House, Helensburgh Evaluation of condition and significance July 2012 Andrew PK Wright Chartered Architect & Heritage Consultant 16 Moy House Court Forres Moray IV36 2NZ Tel 01309 676655 Fax 01309 676609 Mob 07740 859005 Email [email protected] Contents Page no Preface to the four parts 2 Part I Historical background 5 1.1 Introduction and abstract 1.2 The architecture of Charles Rennie Mackintosh: antecedents and influences 1.3 Developments in building technology: a false dawn? 1.4 The design and construction of The Hill House, and its legacy 1.5 After the completion of The Hill House Part II The legacy of The Hill House 54 James Macaulay on the legacy of The Hill House Part III A litany of repairs to The Hill House 57 3.1 Introduction and abstract 3.2 The house in the care of Walter Blackie 3.3 Addressing the problems: Campbell Lawson (from 1953) 3.4 The future of the house secured by the RIAS 3.5 Acquisition by the NTS and the ensuing debate with the HBCS over repair strategies 3.6 Programme of major repair under the guidance of Page and Park and the aftermath Part IV Conservation philosophy: a discussion paper 86 4.1 Introduction and abstract 4.2 Charles Rennie Mackintosh's The Hill House: an icon of modern architecture? 4.3 The problems of conserving twentieth century architecture: interpreting the international conservation charters 4.4 The conservation of twentieth century architecture: case studies References and bibliography 112 Appendix Plans of The Hill House prepared by RCAHMS The Hill House, Helensburgh Evaluation of condition and significance 1 Preface to the four parts of the study The Hill House, Helensburgh Evaluation of condition and significance 2 Preface to the four parts of the study The fabric of The Hill House has been plagued throughout much of its existence by problems of water penetration which have proved difficult, if not impossible, to overcome. There have been numerous attempts to remedy the problems posed by the design and the use of materials for the external walls and chimneyheads and, while some of them have met with temporary success the problems continue to return and, moreover, they bring with them the risk of further collateral damage to the structure and to the outstanding decorative finishes of the house. The present owner of the property, the National Trust for Scotland ('NTS'), has embarked upon major schemes of repair in the recent past. In doing so it followed the best advice available to it at the time, but it is now recognised that the levels of intervention in the spirit of retaining the maximum amount of historic fabric are, paradoxically, exacerbating the nature of the problems that have recurred and that they are making them significantly more difficult to resolve. This suite of documents has been commissioned by the NTS in order to arrive at a clear understanding of the historical background to the repairs and problems that have been encountered, of the significance of the house which is celebrated as one of the finest works of Charles Rennie Mackintosh when at the height of his powers, and of the philosophy governing possible repair strategies. The documents are accompanied by a series of reports on the fabric of The Hill House, and should be read in conjunction with them. These reports are annexed to the Quinquennial report (July 2012) and are listed as follows: • Quinquennial inspection report (Andrew PK Wright) • Matrix for principles for the repair of the external walls (Andrew PK Wright) • Hill House Environmental Report (Irons Foulner) • The Hill House, Helensburgh: Initial Report on the Structural Condition of the Building (David Narro Associates) • Observations from Infrared Thermographic Surveys (Construction Materials Consultants Ltd) The above reports and the evaluation of the problems of the fabric of The Hill House have been founded upon various papers prepared by William A Revie of Construction Materials Consultants which involve non-invasive survey work by thermography, X-Ray Powder Diffraction and petrographic examination of roughcast samples and of the sandstones found in the construction of the building. Andrew Wright, as lead consultant, has been supported by a team of experts in their respective fields, and he is grateful to them all for their support and advice throughout the course of the assignment. He is also grateful to all those within the NTS who have supplied information and helpful advice, especially William Napier, Bryan Dickson and Lorna Hepburn. Particular thanks are expressed to Professor Pamela Robertson, Joseph Sharples, Professor Sir James Dunbar-Nasmith, Kenneth Lawson, David Cairns, Dr Andrew Pover, Peter Trowles, Susannah Waters, Jackie Davenport, Ranald Macinnes, Evelyn Silber, Neil Baxter, Brian Park and Malcolm Mitchell. This document is in four parts. The first part deals with the influences on Mackintosh as a designer of world renown, on the use of construction materials at a time of transition within the building industry, and with the design and construction of The Hill House and its significance for the Modern The Hill House, Helensburgh Evaluation of condition and significance 3 Movement. In the second part, Dr James Macaulay’s short paper addresses the legacy of the house, and provides a sound framework for considering how to preserve it without damaging what is important. The third part recounts the history of the problems with the building, how they had been addressed in the past, the philosophical debates surrounding the desirability of retaining the evidence of the original fabric on grounds of authenticity, and how this shaped the methodology for the repairs undertaken during the 1980s and the early 1990s. The fourth part is in the form of a discussion paper. It seeks an answer to the question as to whether the house can be considered a modern monument with reference to relevant international conservation charters. It addresses the philosophical issues surrounding the conservation and repair of modern architectural monuments, summarises a number of case studies looking at how modern monuments are conserved and the sorts of issues they tend to throw up, and considers whether there are any lessons to be learnt from them for the repair of The Hill House. The document is not set out in the form of a conservation plan, and neither should it be considered to be a comprehensive history of the house and of the repairs that have been carried out to it in the past. With the exception of the second part of the document, the focus on the remaining parts is on the influences on Mackintosh as an architect rather than a decorative artist as one of the members of the ‘Glasgow Four’, and on his exploitation of early Portland cement as the medium through which his increasingly abstract designs could be realised during the first decade of the twentieth century, regarded by many as the period of his greatest creativity. The findings of this study are broadly in line with analysis of the problems set out in the presentations made by the NTS to its internal Architecture Panel in 2009, and at the symposium in Glasgow early in 2012, convened by the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society to address mounting concerns over the current state of many of the architect's best known buildings. Copyright is vested jointly in the names of the authors and the NTS. The document has been prepared as a private research report and is not in its present guise intended for publication in any way. Sources of historic images are identified in the text, and should not be reproduced without the permission of the original copyright holder or licensor of the image. The Hill House, Helensburgh Evaluation of condition and significance 4 Part I Historical background The Hill House, Helensburgh Evaluation of condition and significance 5 1.1 Part I: introduction and abstract The result was a total work of art, and aesthetic enhancement of all the rituals of family life ……… The echoes were local and traditional, the reverberations international, even universal, for Hill House was one of several Mackintosh designs to inspire new tendencies abroad. It was the sharp interplay of wall planes and openings, silhouettes and surfaces, as well as the direct celebration of functional elements like chimneys, which recommended this building to the Viennese avant- garde. In effect 'Mackintosh developed the somewhat thin and frosty air of the Scottish vernacular and transformed it into a living style of the early twentieth century….' William JR Curtis (1982)1 Part I provides a context for the study, and begins by setting out the influences on Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s early career. The extent to which he fell under the spell of Scotland’s ‘national architecture’, and how that was shaped by the influence of David MacGibbon and Thomas Ross, is examined through the vehicle of his early public lectures. These provide also an insight into the work of his contemporaries in both England and Scotland and the extent to which he was, for a while, under the spell of WR Lethaby. The tendency towards abstract qualities in the freehand sketches of the places he visited, architectural perspectives, and finally in his buildings is compared, and it is demonstrated how this was given full rein in the design for his client for The Hill House, Walter Blackie. The stylistic excesses of Mackintosh and the ‘Glasgow Four’ (of which he and his wife were members) led to their ostracism, and a subsequent lack of awareness of their achievements in England, a difficulty made worse once the editor of the influential arts and design magazine The Studio died in 1898.