The Willow Tearooms
A tearoom where Mackintosh controlled everything down to the cutlery and the waitresses’ dresses. The Room de Luxe remains one of Art Nouveau’s most complete interiors.
At a glance
The Willow Tearooms at 217 Sauchiehall Street were designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868–1928) for the entrepreneur Catherine Cranston and opened in 1903. Unlike his other tearoom commissions, where he handled only interiors, here Mackintosh shaped the building front as well, giving him control of every surface. The street name comes from the Scots word for willow, and the willow motif runs through the design. The building was restored and reopened in 2018 as Mackintosh at the Willow.
Key facts
- Architect: Charles Rennie Mackintosh
- Client: Catherine (Kate) Cranston
- Opened: 1903
- Address: 217 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow
- Status: restored and reopened 2018 as Mackintosh at the Willow
History
Catherine Cranston built a small empire of Glasgow tearooms in the late nineteenth century, fashionable, respectable places that gave women in particular a space to meet in the city. She employed Mackintosh repeatedly, and the Sauchiehall Street rooms of 1903 were the high point of their collaboration.
Over the twentieth century the interiors were altered and parts dispersed as the premises changed hands. A separate tribute venue kept the name alive for years. The original building was eventually restored and reopened in 2018 under the name Mackintosh at the Willow, returning the tearoom to public use.
What you see
The white-rendered front, with its curved upper window, breaks from the heavy stone of its neighbours and signals something modern within. The plan moves from brighter ground-floor rooms upward to the famous first-floor Room de Luxe.
The Room de Luxe was a jewel box of silvered furniture, leaded mirror-glass friezes and a high-backed chair design that has become an icon of the Glasgow Style. Stylised willow forms, the gesso panel by Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh and a restrained palette of white, purple and silver tied the room together.
Practical information
- Function: working tearoom and exhibition space
- Setting: central Sauchiehall Street, pedestrianised section
- Time needed: 1–2 hours including refreshments and the exhibition
Getting there
The tearooms sit on Sauchiehall Street in central Glasgow, a few minutes’ walk from Charing Cross station and from Buchanan Street. Glasgow Airport is about 13 km west, with frequent buses to the centre.
Nearby
- Glasgow School of Art, a short uphill walk
- The Hill House at Helensburgh, about 40 km north-west
- Glasgow — Mackintosh and the Arts & Crafts Movement (CHO city guide)
Sources
- Mackintosh at the Willow, venue history (mackintoshatthewillow.com)
- Historic Environment Scotland, listed building record
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Charles Rennie Mackintosh”
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