Blaze guts famed art school hit by fire in 2014
Glasgow building completed in 1909 an architectural jewel
LONDON — A large fire ripped through the Glasgow School of Art in Scotland overnight Friday, officials said Saturday morning, causing extensive damage to a building considered the jewel in the city’s architectural crown.
It was the second time in four years that a blaze has hit the world-famous building, which was under restoration and was set to reopen after a fire badly damaged it in May 2014.
The building, widely described as a masterpiece of Glasgow-born architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh, was completed in 1909.
Peter Heath of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service told reporters that the call had come in at 11:19 p.m. Friday, sending more than 120 firefighters and 20 fire engines to the site.
Heath said people should be prepared for what they would see after the blaze had been put out: “The damage to this building, regrettably, is very extensive.”
He said that “every part of the building” had been affected and that part of the roof had collapsed.
There were no reports of casualties, and the cause of the fire was not clear.
Footage shared on social media showed flames and smoke billowing from the roof. Heath told reporters that the blaze had “consumed” the building and spread to adjacent structures, including a cinema and shops.
Scotland has deep emotional ties to the building. “In such an iconic building, which has such affection not just for the people of Scotland but for people around the world, any damage in the building has a devastating effect,” Heath said.
The leader of the Scottish government, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, said on Twitter that she was heartbroken: “My first thoughts tonight are for the safety of people — but my heart also breaks for Glasgow’s beloved @GSofA.”
David Mundell, the Scotland secretary in the British government, tweeted that his government was “ready to help, financially or otherwise.”
The Art Nouveau building, which housed a working art school, is considered a work of art in its own right. It was best known for its library — a multitiered gem, with distinctive finde-siècle chandelier lighting, carefully wrought coloured balustrades, elongated windows and ornamental carvings on tables.
The 2014 fire started below the library, when an overhead projector ignited solvent in a student’s artwork, and destroyed much of the interior’s western half.
A new fire-safety system, with a misting infrastructure, was to be part of the restoration work.
The campus began a fundraising appeal with a goal of £32 million (now about $56 million Cdn) to help restore the building. Celebrities such actors Brad Pitt and Scottish actor Peter Capaldi were among those who signed up as trustees to help the Glasgow School of Art raise £20 million toward the restoration.
Pitt’s interest in architecture is well known; and Capaldi, of “Doctor Who” fame, studied at the school in the 1980s. He recorded a tribute to students whose works were either damaged or destroyed during the 2014 blaze.
The building had been scheduled to reopen around spring next year.
“Devastated that a major fire has broken out at the Glasgow School of Art tonight,” the shadow minister for Scotland, Paul Sweeney, tweeted, calling the Mackintosh “the most architecturally important building in Glasgow.”
Alan Dunlop, a professor of architecture, told The Times of London that the second fire appeared to have “gutted” the entire building.
“Judging by the photographs I can’t see any restoration possible for the building itself,” Dunlop said. “It looks as if the building is totally destroyed.”
The building had attracted around 25,000 visitors each year before the 2014 blaze, with tours conducted by art school students.