CHARLES RENNIE MACINTOSH AT COMRIE – A SIMPLE SURPRISE

It was discovered as a TV series: the work of the Landmark Trust (LT) in the UK was the subject of a short series where each show - there were six - presented a range of projects that the Trust was working on. The selected projects were at different stages of development and revealed the variety and scope of the involvement of the Trust, its methods and personalities. It was an informative series that was of interest. The Trust purchased significant buildings that were endangered, and fully renovated, refurbished and refurnished each building down to the finest detail, all in keeping with its history, its story. Both the strategies as well as the personalities were fascinating, as engrossing as the narrative itself. The LT plays an important role just outside the work of the National Trust, (NT), with its interest in more 'everyday' at-risk buildings that still hold a unique cultural, if not historic significance, maybe with an ‘insignificance’ that might place it outside the remit of the NT.

The LT raises funds for its programme both privately and commercially. The public support comes through donations and raffles. By using the buildings as recreational retreats, places for short-term rental, the LT is able to maintain an income as well as provide the public the experience of each property, be it a castle, a cathedral, a chateau or a fisherman’s hut. Folk are allowed to stay in each place for fixed periods of time, (from Monday – Thursday, or Friday - Sunday), for a fee. The strategy provides a regular income and opens the properties differently to the manner in which the NT does. One can spend real, lived times in these special buildings rather than merely look at them as a day visitor, a tourist. It is an interesting approach to conservation; and a successful one too. Here preservation is given a purpose beyond grand display and awe-filled admiration.

The Chanel 4 TV series was riveting. It showed: how the work was carried out; the people, the characters involved; the care with which everything was managed; and the array of unique challenges faced everyday. So it was that the TV series led to the exploration of the LT site on-line. There are many interesting places where one can stay. The challenge is to find a vacancy, such is the popularity of this enterprise. The booking calendar showed that most properties are well used. It was an attractive idea. Might we think of staying in a LT property one day?

'One day' came sooner than later. We were planning to travel to the UK, so we looked through the properties, starting with our prime destination, Scotland. The Macintosh flat in Comrie looked intriguing: at Comrie? Where’s that? We were interested in CRMac's work but had not heard of this project. On other trips, his Glasgow School of Art; his relocated residence interior at the University of Glasgow, (oddly referred to as The Macintosh House – the interior has been fitted into a 1980s Brutalist insitu concrete shell); his Lighthouse exhibition; and various other displays of his work had been visited. There are several books on CRMac in our private library too. The opportunity to stay in a flat designed by him was a tempting delight: but was it available? The complications of schedules, itineraries and bookings arose yet again.

The bridge into Peebles

A quick review of available dates showed that the flat was fully booked up to November, (this was March 2017), apart from three days in June. If we wanted to spend time in Comrie, we would have to plan a trip around these dates. How was one to do this? What if the LT flat was booked, and flights and other details could not be? We had to wait and finalise the flights, car, and other accommodation before the LT booking, as it was not refundable. We would have to wait.

Peebles

After a few days, the primary bookings were complete. They were all structured around the Comrie dates - but was the booking still available? The pleasant surprise was that the June dates were still free, so we completed our travel arrangements with the LT booking that was promptly confirmed.

Peebles - main street

The Park Hotel

We were flying into Glasgow, driving to Peebles and spending a few days there before moving north to Comrie. Peebles, a hopeful, blind booking, proved to be a pleasant surprise, both as a town and a hotel, so we stayed there an extra night, giving us three days to enjoy the delightful Borders region of Scotland. After this booking we drove north to Perth, bypassing Edinburgh. Driving over the Firth of Forth bridge, one could admire the stunning, majestic structure to the east, the right, and the the new cable stay bridge to the west, the left. At Perth we purchased supplies and drove west to Crieff, and then on to Comrie. This was unknown country.

CRMac building in Comrie on left with RBS corner detail on right

Kirk by river at Comrie

Church in Comrie with CRMac building on the middle left

The CRMac building is out of frame on the left.

The corner inspiration of the RBS building is on the right.

The narrow road wound its way through beautiful hills and fresh fields. Finally the signs started to tell us we were approaching Comrie. We crossed a small bridge and turned left into the main street. The distinctive church first viewed on Street View was ahead of us. The Mac flat was nearby. The slight bend in the village road concealed it. As we moved closer, the brilliant white building revealed itself: Macintosh - the style was clear. This was certainly a landmark building in this little village.

The original drapers store at Comrie refurbished by CRMac after a fire.

Note the portion on the left that remained and had the blind dormers fitted for scale.

The draper had an observatory constructed on top of the building.

Street elevation showing existing building with new CRMac addition to replace the burnt portion

Street context: CRMac building out of frame on left - RBS on right

We parked in the adjacent square and entered. The street door beside the shop under the flat was opened. A set of stairs rose to a landing lit from above. A few more stairs rose to the right to the flat's door. It opened into a large, dim hall space framed by an array of dark doors that led to, (from left to right): a bedroom; the kitchen; a second bedroom; the sitting room; and the bathroom. It was a very simple plan that reminded one of the classic Glasgow tenement plan first seen in Miss Toward's living quarters in Glasgow, a Scottish Heritage place open to the public. Macintosh was always seeking inspiration from his Scottish tradition.

New meets old with additional blind dormer for scale change

Note the unusual geometry of the corner window sitting back from the corner below

Entry door to flat

Entry door from inside (on right)

Kitchen

The dark, walnut-stained brown# doors, trims and floors contrasted with the stark white walls in classic Mac style, all as seen in the photographs of his work. The doors were typically proportioned with tall, vertical rectangular, three-panel divisions topped by smaller, nearly square panels. One was reminded of the CRMac chairs, their height, the tall decoration and their square perforations. The architraves were beautiful large Scotia forms, nicely ovoid, and established the theme for the fireplace detailing. The sitting room had the original fireplace that still worked. The detailing of this fireplace was the only clearly classic-'Mac' styling in the place. A twin mantle piece with a curved facing pierced with a Mac tear-shaped void, all framed in large Scotia forms framed with deeply splayed red tiles, reminded one of things that were clearly of the Mac genre. The floor guard was again familiar, Mac-like: perhaps more Arts & Crafts in style. Maybe this was Mac; or did LT purchase this smart 'look-alike' trim?

This sitting room had a deep, pale pink frieze that seemed a tentative, diagrammatic gesture to Mac-style that was weak, almost puny: cheap. It appeared to lack effort and commitment. Mac would have had stencilling here. The furnishings had a similar , uncertain edge to them too. They all looked Mac-like, in the style of Mac, without ever having the dandy touch, the delightful intricacy we see in his distinctive work.

Bedroom fireplace

Kitchen fireplace

Glimpse into kitchen

The twin, the second bedroom, had a fireplace of simpler design, with a range of forms, U perforations, and deep blue tiles in what looked like Mac-style: was it original? This fireplace was not operational; it was now purely a decorative gesture. The kitchen had a new fireplace that replaced one that had been removed; and it did work. This fireplace was designed by the architects appointed by LT to refurbish the building. The idea was taken from the original Mac fireplace, but was a poor interpretation; tentatively contrived. The Mac approach to colour and tiles seemed to get confused with traditional Victorian decorative tiling. The architects used puny Mac-style decorated hand-painted tiles sparingly, mixed with standard white tiles. These tiles were again used as a kitchen bench splashback, below look-alike shelving detailed for the cups. Sadly, in spite of the effort, the Mac-style tiles looked weak and scrappy. Were they installed upside down? The Mac-styled modern kitchen was always going to offer a grim challenge to anyone.

Mac-styled curtain print in bedroom

What becomes obvious is that replicating Mac-style is difficult. CRMac's work has a delicacy and vibrancy, a coherence and integrity that lies beyond the skills of the casual copyist. His work has a touch of the frivolous, the haughty, the fanciful. It is a quality revealed in some portrait images of CRMac too. There is a wonder, a special touch of beauty in CRMac's work. It is always more than any exact copy or replica can embody. Is it the supreme fineness, the finesse, the elegance that captures this quality? The LT’s task to refurbish and fit the place out was truly an extreme situation - impossible? Take the kitchen for instance: the lower wall had an original dark green floral wall paper while the deep frieze was a matching, solid dark green hue. Now the walls are cliche Mac-white. What else in the Mac genre is memorized as a commonplace? Does everything suffer this diagrammatically schematic, look-alike approach, ‘as seen in the photographs’?

The original kitchen wallpaper

Original kitchen wall colour

View into entry lobby from kitchen (note colour patch left above door)

The colour green is used on the bathroom walls

Wall swelling at cornice in sitting room

One could go through all of the details in this flat, but this is unnecessary - the comments would be the same. What is interesting is the experience of the place. The cornice detail was a square meeting of wall and ceiling planes, moulding-free apart ffom the sitting room, but some locations show a certain, unusual swelling in some walls at the ceiling line. These look like beams to support the attic floor over. The attempt to analyse the planning concept shows that the flat has a simple structural diagram – two main floor beams at wall lines. It is not a complex concept. It is a true Mac enterprise: the making of mystery out of nothing but the ordinary. The two main beams divided the total space into the room pattern of the simple plan.

Note the original green stain highlighted by the flash

Original stain on sitting room door

The other surprise was the stain. The text in the LT information folder told that the original stain on the siting room fireplace and the rear of the sitting room door was the original dark green that Mac used. The colour was copied and used throughout the flat: but surely everything was walnut stain, as seen on entry? Has there been some guile here? It was not until the morning of departure when the sunlight shone bright and deep into the spaces and on to the original stain that it became obvious - all the stained surfaces were a glorious, murky, deep green. Had Mac something secret to reveal? His stain displayed a reading of a rich variety of deep colours - black, brown, deep olive green, depending on the available light. One was left wondering about the astonishing lightness of the Mac touch, how it danced with a certain flimsy, flamboyance, just like the tones of the stain.

Living in the centre of Comre in the Mac flat was a pleasant experience. Not only was Mac revealed, but also village life. It became clear that village life centred, not on the Mac-core, bright white village building, or the central square, but the cash machine of the local bank opposite - the Royal Bank of Scotland building (RBS) that seemed to be the inspiration for the CRMac bay window. As for village vibrancy, the youth seem bored, with nothing to do. Comrie was not a large place. Saturday evening saw the youth exodus, leaving for nearby Crieff for excitement. Crieff did not look much more exciting than Comrie: maybe it was just different?

Skylight in entry lobby

Not only were the young village folk hanging around the square aimlessly in the evenings, causing disturbances late in the nights, but we were also woken at 5:30am, with them in the same place the following morning, waiting for their energy drink and ice cream breakfast once the local shop had opened. What were the parents doing? We also saw the impact of drugs on the village. The 1:30am adult activities were outrageously roudy, noisy, as was the Friday traffic. Comrie was on a through-road to nearby lochs and their weekend activities. Did Macintosh know about this? One is left pondering why historic refurbishment is so rigorous. There is no TV in the flat; and storage heating has been installed recently, apparently reluctantly as there is none in the early photos – all this when the civic context has been so altered; when society has moved on, for good or bad. Is conservation just a fashionable fad?

Still, touching Mac, or a part of his work, is interesting, even out of its original context. It is probably as close as one might get these days. There are filaments of delight that remain, even with the LT’s efforts in its transformation. One has to ask about Goodhart’s law,* that knowing, ‘measuring,’ only makes the outcome impossible. Is this the core barrier to Mac success today? Is it the roadblock to all conservation in general? Are we admiring only our version of something different?

The inspiration for the CRMac flat corner?

In spite of the doubts, this building is indeed a landmark in the village with its Mac-inspired Scottish heritage reverences - white render, corner turret, its intimate skill, its modernist references, . . . even with faked, blind dormers. Was it not Mac who argued against style? How might one explain this? His argument and his work follow a very narrow line of conflict that has been delicately and deliberately resolved into beauty. Is this its raw enigma; its fatal attraction?

We need to know more about why we want to conserve and how. The intent has to be beyond business, style and stylistic ideals framing approximate histories for entertainment; for feeling good about oneself and one’s times. What is being 'saved' or 'protected' here? It has to be more than LT's reputation, and our perception of ourselves.

The comment has been made, and it is very obvious when occupying the room, that the fireplace is in the wrong location.

It would make much more sense if it were in the centre of the opposite wall.

Functionalism demands that it should be twinned with the bedroom fireplace, to use the main flue.

Is this the weakness of modernism? Style?

#

It was discovered early one morning when the low sun streamed into the flat to reach the far door, that the stain was a rich, dark green, not a walnut: see later in the text.

*

Goodhart's law is named after economist Charles Goodhart, paraphrasing: "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure."