The Mackintosh Building

We were delighted to be involved in the works for the Landmark Trust and the tiling restoration work on this historic building. The building was designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh and dates from 1903–4, a time when Mackintosh was doing what is universally regarded as his very best work.

Located in the centre of Comrie, the building was commissioned by a local draper and ironmonger to be used as a shop on the ground floor with accommodation above and additional workrooms in the attic. The design of the first floor flat has spacious with airy rooms and beautiful touches of Mackintosh’s design flair.

Were Tiling were involved in the tiling restoration portion of the project to redecorate the flat on the first floor of the building which has plenty of the unique Charles Rennie Mackintosh characteristic details. The main room which the fireplace is in, has the all the delicate design touches you’d expect of Mackintosh’s handy work. If you look closely, you will see the surround that runs into the projecting turret, or tourelle, which Mackintosh added to the outer angle of the building in a nod towards Scottish Baronial architecture. This design detail gives the room its airy feel and compliments the view of the River Earn and the wooded hills beyond.

As you will have see from the photos, we brought the same dedication and attention to detail as we always do with tiling restoration work.

As a specialist Victorian tiling expert based in Glasgow and covering Scotland and North England we are dedicated to the careful restoration, repair and replacement of period fireplace hearths as part of a wide range of conservation and contemporary mosaic and geometric tiling services that we offer.

Our experience in restoring and repairing Victorian tiled fireplace hearths goes beyond just replacing a few cracked tiles. We work tirelessly to repair and restore as much of the original tiling as possible. And where an original tile is too badly damaged, we will source and match as closely as possible replacement tiles to ensure that your fireplace hearth looks like it did in its prime.

It was a privilege to be involved in projects like this which have such historic importance and gives a new lease of life to something the great architect had designed. Being able to complete this work also gave us the opportunity to visit a part of Scotland which we hadn’t been to before. The drive from Glasgow to Comrie is simply beautiful.