Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
original details have been preserved, as well. Around the corner and north up
Rose Street is the Glasgow Film Theatre, the city's dedicated art film and rep-
ertory cinema (p. 243) with an Art Deco design. In the other direction, two
blocks away, is Blythswood Square, a tidy bit of open space that was part of a
New Town development that dates to the 1820s.
17
Near Blythswood Square down some steps to:
8 Where the Monkey Sleeps
Where the Monkey Sleeps (182 West Regent St.;
&
0141/226-3406) is no ordinary cafe.
It is an atmospherically arty hangout and gallery space, serving excellent cappuccino and
freshly prepared sandwiches. See p. 186 for a full review.
Our walk continues west on Sauchiehall Street to Dalhousie Street, turning right
(north), and climbing steep Garnethill to the:
9
Glasgow School of Art
Our second Mackintosh masterpiece, the Glasgow School of Art, is on the left
as you ascend Garnethill via Dalhousie Street. Even from this approach, along
the most austere side of the building, the ingenuity of its design is apparent.
Completed in two stages (1899 and 1909), the building offers a mix of ideas
promoted by both the Arts and Crafts and the Art Nouveau movements. Facing
Renfrew Street, the wide facade offers huge studio windows. This is still a key
campus building, so immediate public access is limited to the reception hall,
shop, and a second-floor gallery space in a large landing beneath exposed tim-
ber beams. To see more, take a guided tour (p. 196), which includes the
impressive library: A place that anyone would happily spend hours in. Another
room has original art and drawings by Mackintosh. Nearby on Hill Street is
Garnethill Synagogue, the first Jewish temple built in Scotland. Before
descending Garnethill, take in the views, particularly south toward the Clyde.
At the west side of the Art School, turn left (south) and come down Scott Street
to the:
10
CCA
To the right as you come down Scott Street, admire the stonework, such as
acanthus leaf motifs, so typical of Alexander Thomson's buildings. Redeveloped
in 2001, the home for Glasgow's Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA) is the
architect's 1865 Grecian Building (although most of the detailing has more to
do with Egypt). The structure incorporated one of the older villas built on the
hillside and inside you can see the facade of that earlier building. Stand at the
corner of Sauchiehall and Scott streets and look back up the hill: This is a
unique spot in Glasgow, where works by both the city's most innovative archi-
tects stand almost side by side.
Cross Sauchiehall Street and proceed south on Pitt Street to:
11
St. Vincent Street Free Church
Only four streets away is Thomson's most impressive temple—what some have
called his “magnum opus.” Built for the United Presbyterians in 1859, the
stone church offers two classic Greek porticos facing north and south, aside
which a clock tower rises decorated in all manner of exotic yet sympathetic
