Since it was built, Charles Rennie Mackintoshs 1904 domestic masterpiece the Hill House in Helensburgh has been absorbing the rain, putting the building and its unique interiors at risk
Photo: Johan Dehlin
A giant airy box shielding Charles Rennie Mackintoshs Hill House in Helensburgh is attracting as much attention as the 1904 house itself as the National Trust for Scotland firms up plans for conservation of the waterlogged mansion.
The London-based architects Carmody Groarke designed the 197-tonne structure, with a galvanised steel roof and see-through curtain walls of stainless steel chainmail, to allow the house to dry out while also allowing access for the public. Walkways stretching throughout the box allow visitors to inspect the exterior of the dwelling, which has been threatened by rain and damp for generations, and to ponder the conservation challenge; conventional tours of the Mackintosh-designed interiors will also continue.
The National Trust for Scotland, which acquired the house in 1982, predicts that it will take three years for it to dry out while conservators devise a plan to protect its sandstone-block masonry. A top layer of Portland cement, applied to the exterior when it was built, has allowed moisture to penetrate the sandstone but not escape. Bryan Dickson, the Read More – Source
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