Rennie Mackintosh organ saved after we pull out all the stops
THE only musical instrument designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh is to be removed from a store room and put on public display next year.
Crafted from mahogany in the Glasgow Style for which he was famous, the magnificent pipe organ was built for a tycoon’s mansion.
Priceless and unique, the 1897 organ is hailed by experts as being an ‘internationally important’ example of the designer’s work.
But it ‘disappeared’ after being removed from the A-listed Craigie Hall in Glasgow’s Pollokshields three years ago.
In March, The Scottish Mail on Sunday tracked it down in several hundred pieces in an industrial unit on the city’s South Side, covered in bubble wrap. Preservation groups were horrified.
But following the intervention of First Minister and local MSP Nicola Sturgeon, owner Glasgow Life – the city’s culture body – said the organ will go to a state-of-the-art facility at the Kelvin Hall to undergo conservation work. A commitment has been made to get it ready in time for 2018, when events will be held to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Mackintosh’s birth.
Pollokshields Heritage chairman Niall Murphy said: ‘This is fantastic news. Hats off to The Mail on Sunday for getting things moving.
‘Mackintosh’s restored Willow Tea Rooms are due to open next year, so the organ will be a fantastic addition to what’s on offer.
‘Getting it from the store room to the Kelvin Hall is a brilliant achievement. What a fitting tribute to Mackintosh, 150 years after he was born. If it was restored so it could be played again, that would be marvellous.’
In 2014, officials from Glasgow City Council and Historic Scotland said they had to rescue the organ. They feared it faced imminent ruin, having suffered serious dry rot, vandalism and theft while the building lay unoccupied.
But there was dismay in March this year when we revealed the instrument’s predicament, bubble-wrapped and lying in hundreds of pieces in a store room.
Now things are moving on. Glasgow Life chief executive Bridget McConnell said: ‘The organ has had initial conservation work carried out and is securely stored. Later this month, it will be moved to our new, state-of-the-art museum store at Kelvin Hall for further conservation work to be undertaken. The budget for this work will be determined following a detailed curatorial assessment of the organ’s full condition and consideration of display options.’
Dr McConnell added: ‘We anticipate the work being completed in 2018, allowing it to be enjoyed for generations to come.’
Stuart Robertson, director of the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society, said: ‘The Kelvin Hall is a much better facility than a store room. It is very good news indeed.’