Published in Scotland Magazine Issue 24 on 05/01/2006.

This article is 30 months old and some information provided may be time sensitive. Please check all details of events, tours, opening times and other information before travelling or making arrangements.

House on the hill

Charles Douglas visits Hill Houser, Helensburgh, a house purpose-built for a lover of ‘the plain style’

IT sits on a hill enjoying views of the Firth of Clyde and the west coast town of Helensburgh, hence its name ‘The Hill House.’ The site is situated north west of Glasgow, and it was here that the prosperous publisher Walter Blackie purchased the plot in 1902 and commissioned the controversial 33-year old designer and architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh to create him a family home.

It was a bold move. Mackintosh had already established his volatile reputation with his design for Glasgow’s School of Art, and he and Blackie had discovered that they held similar views.

They both disliked the pastiche Tudor, Gothic and Classical details which ignored the overall setting of a building and, in particular where Scotland is concerned, the unpredictable climate.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s dream was to create an entirely new style for the 20th Century. In line with the aspirations of some of his contemporaries in the Glasgow Style movement – notably his fellow Glasgow Art School graduates, the MacDonald sisters, and Herbert McNair - this would come to be seen as identifiably Scottish.

Ironically, while their work was generally eulogized throughout Europe, it often received a less than enthusiastic reaction nearer home. Happily, Mackintosh is today considered one of Glasgow’s greatest sons.

The Hill House, a simple harled building conceived to withstand Scotland’s rugged winter and wet summers, cost Walter Blackie £5,000, a large sum in 1902.

But if the building might appear aust.....

To read the rest of this article you can buy this issue or subscribe to Scotland Magazine to have every issue delivered direct to your door.

By Charles Douglas

Section : Historic Houses

Page number : 16