The Los Angeles based Getty Foundation has announced $1.75 million of grants under the ‘keep it modern’ programme, including one project based in the UK, Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s Hill House in Helensburgh, while members at last year’s IHBC Annual School in Edinburgh will recall being discussed by its owner, the National Trust for Scotland.
The National Trust for Scotland writes:
The Getty Foundation has allocated a grant of £95,000 towards the conservation of Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s iconic Hill House in Helensburgh, Scotland.
The Getty Foundation has allocated a grant of £95,000 towards the conservation of Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s iconic Hill House in Helensburgh, Scotland.
The award, which comes through the Los Angeles-based Foundation’s ‘Keeping it Modern’ architectural conservation grants initiative, will help the owners of Hill House, heritage charity the National Trust for Scotland, to deliver its conservation plan for the 1904 property. This is the first award under the initiative made to a building in the UK and one of only fourteen awards made this year, thereby confirming the international significance of the property.
Keeping it Modern is designed to support grant projects of outstanding architectural significance in relation to 20th century buildings. The Hill House, which was built for Glasgow publisher Walter Blackie and his family, was one of the most original pieces of architecture from the early part of that century, blending traditional Scottish vernacular styles with radical, new external finishes and interiors.
Mackintosh dispensed with many of the normal weathering details, such as projecting chimney and skew copes, relying instead upon harling to weather-proof these vulnerable areas. He used a then relatively untried cement-based harling applied at the behest of the client to give him a house devoid of ‘adventitious ornamentation’ with ‘grey rough cast’ to complement the grey Ballachulish slate roof finish.
Unfortunately, the Hill House has suffered from the effects of moisture penetration through its external plasterwork ever since it was built. In spite of many attempts over the years to deal with the problem, no solution has been found up to now.
The Conservation Plan that the Getty Foundation’s grant will support is intended to deal with moisture ingress for once and for all without harming or diminishing Mackintosh’s design in any way.
The new Chief Executive of the National Trust for Scotland, Simon Skinner said: ‘This is an exceptional act of generosity by the Getty Foundation for an exceptional building. Last year’s events at the Glasgow School of Art were a salutary reminder of the preciousness and importance to architecture of Mackintosh’s remaining buildings. Although many of the conservation challenges at Hill House stem from the original specifications, we are obliged for the sake of Scotland’s heritage to ensure that this striking and wholly innovative property is brought to the best possible condition for future generations to enjoy.’
‘The Getty Foundation’s grant allows us to materially progress our conservation plan for Hill House.’
The conservation plan is based on extensive investigation by structural and conservation specialists, and works are expected to be underway later in 2015 and through into 2016 to apply external finishes that will prevent further water ingress. The Getty Foundation award provides a much-needed catalyst for further fundraising towards the Hill House project.
View the full list of awards and details of the international properties benefitting
See the IHBC Edinburgh Annual School presentation, ‘Hill House harl: Getting under the surface of Mackintosh’, by William Napier, online
