Queen's Cross Church
Mackintosh, Charles Rennie
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Date
1897Description
West elevation, side entry; The only church Mackintosh designed. He alone could have devised the plethora of Art Nouveau details. Looser, more organic outlines have become heart-shaped tracery in the chancel window, while on the pulpit the intertwining of birds, foliage and circles refashion the traditions of Celtic art. The design of the corner tower was based on that of Merriot Church, Somerset, which Mackintosh had sketched. It was reproduced almost exactly with an entrance porch and a traceried window above on the main face and with an engaged stair-turret tucked into the corner. Most appealing to Mackintosh in the Somerset church tower was the marked entasis of its profile; the Queen's Cross tower has a similarly sturdy independence and is again the fulcrum for two different elevations. The more important south elevation has variations in height between one and two stages; while faithfully reflecting the internal placement of a gallery over a side aisle, this results in distressing changes in elevational scale. Throughout the design integrity is consistent with the structure since the buttresses carry exposed steel roof ties spanning the undivided interior; monotony is avoided by the broad chancel and use of galleries. The gallery fronts are dropped at intervals to allow the board ends to be fretted, a mannerism used more tellingly in the library of the Glasgow School of Art. Source: Grove Art Online; http://www.oxfordartonline.com/ (accessed 7/10/2010)
Subject
architecture, decorative arts, Art Nouveau, Glasgow style, Nineteenth century
Rights
Rights Statement
Licensed for educational and research use by the MIT community only