1 10 5 https://www.artisansinscotland.shca.ed.ac.uk/files/original/1b922adb3bb926696d5629675f84d9e9.jpg 062b9aa52d7fa79f096b01938b0c29da Exhibition Item Title William Trotter Chair Category Wood Description This carved mahogany hall chair with intricate rope and anchor design, was made by William Trotter for Trinity House, Edinburgh in 1816. It is one of a set of six, and is in a typical ‘hall chair’ design, with an elaborate armorial back and solid seat suitable for an entrance hall where users were likely to be seated for a short time and wearing wet outer garments. The chairs feature the Trinity House emblem, ‘PERVIA VIRTUTI SYDERA TERRA MARE’ (‘The earth, the sea and the stars are conquerable by men of courage.’) Trinity House is the home of the trade regulation body known as the Incorporation of Ship Owners and Shipmasters. The building, in Leith, built in 1816 to designs by Thomas Brown, is on the site of the former Trinity House, which dates back to the sixteenth century. The chairs were designed for the new building and Trotter was paid £15 15s in 1817 for the commission. William Trotter (1772-1833) was Scotland’s most celebrated early nineteenth century cabinetmaker. His family were long established in trade in Edinburgh and he was a significant figure in the Merchant Company, where he was Master in 1819. He served as Dean of Guild on the Edinburgh Town Council and Lord Provost. He operated through various partnerships before setting up a business in own right in 1805, with extensive showrooms at the east end of Princes Street. The Trinity House hall chair was made at the height of his success, when he was known for restrained neoclassical design. His commissions included other Edinburgh institutions, such as the Signet Library ca.1822 and domestic customers, such as local M.P. John Home Robertson for Paxton House, a country mansion in Berwickshire, as well as the numerous residents of Edinburgh’s quickly expanding New Town. Trotter’s vast output was elegant in design and used the best quality woods. The Trinity House architect, Thomas Brown (1781-1850) was Superintendent of the City Works in Edinburgh from 1819. He had a large local country house practice and through this and his connection with the council, would have known William Trotter well. It is possible that Brown designed the hall chairs, though a workshop such as Trotters would have employed many skilled craftsmen, some trained in design at the Trustees Drawing Academy. Trotter introduced London styles of furniture to Scotland, making use of pattern books such as those produced by Sheraton and Chippendale. He and other leading cabinetmakers sought to standardise prices and dimensions in the trade, publishing the Edinburgh Cabinet Makers’ Book of Prices from 1805. Trotter’s celebrated showroom was listed in tourist guides of the period as somewhere to visit when in Edinburgh. According to Thomas Dibden in his 1838 Antiquarian and Picturesque Tour it comprised ‘vistas filled with mahogany and rosewood objects of great temptation.’ Image copyright Crown Copyright reproduced courtesy of Historic Scotland Item Location Trinity House, Edinburgh Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Hall Chair, William Trotter, 1816 architects cabinet maker chair design schools Edinburgh furniture London neoclassical tourist industry https://www.artisansinscotland.shca.ed.ac.uk/files/original/6ef4983c4bb5b26a8a23e73113a995f2.jpg de6f6275feb555e6e2475f677b63cb1d Exhibition Item Title Willow Tea Room, Glasgow Category Buildings Description This is a photograph of the Willow Tea Room in Glasgow, which occupied an open plan space at 217 Sauchiehall Street in one of Glasgow’s most fashionable shopping streets. It was designed for restaurateur Kate Cranston by Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928) while a partner at the architectural practice of Honeyman Keppie and Mackintosh. This photograph of the front saloon was published in the Glasgow Herald shortly after it opened in 1903. Such was Mackintosh’s international reputation that the photograph was also published in Germany’s leading art journal, Dekorative Kunst, two years later. The freestanding structure in the foreground of the photograph houses two tables with specially designed chairs, making four dining place-settings in total. The structure is topped with an elaborate wrought iron flower-stand comprising a broad glass bowl caged within a wrought iron corona. Mackintosh’s interest in unusual divisions of architectural space created open-sided eating ‘islands’ for Cranston’s clientele, providing the occupants with a sense of enclosure by offering a private space within a public one. The photograph provides a glimpse into the general lunchroom at the rear and into the whiter, brighter Salon de Luxe on the upper mezzanine floor. Decorative metalwork, painted wood and decorative gesso panels were handcrafted elements in Mackintosh’s elegant and functional tea room interiors. Wrought iron uprights and rails divide the downstairs lunchrooms from the more exclusive dining and leisure areas higher in the building. Kate Cranston had previously employed Mackintosh to design decorative details and the complete interior for her restaurant at 205-217 Ingram Street, Glasgow (c.1900). The Willow Tea Room was one of a series of notable creative collaborations between Mackintosh and his wife Margaret Macdonald (1864-1933). The couple were married in 1900 and Margaret designed decorative gesso panels for a number of Mackintosh's interiors. Mackintosh was born to Margaret and William McIntosh, a clerk in the Glasgow police force in 1868. He studied at Glasgow School of Art (GSA) under Francis (Fra) Newbery and met Herbert McNair whilst serving as an architect’s apprentice between 1885 and 1889. Mackintosh’s and McNair’s work with the sisters Margaret and Francis Macdonald defined a particular aspect of what has become known as The Glasgow Style, notable for its sinuous forms and use of Celtic imagery and symbolism. In 1900 Mackintosh and Macdonald exhibited a wall-and-furniture ensemble at the Secession Exhibition in Vienna, including decorative gesso friezes by Margaret that were later installed at Cranston’s Ingram Street restaurant. Mackintosh’s most well known architectural projects include the Glasgow School of Art (1899) and Hill House (1904) built for the publisher Walter Blackie, but he also worked on commissions in London (Derngate, c.1917) and designed furnishings for clients and exhibitions. The National Museum Scotland’s collection includes a wooden settle designed by Mackintosh with lead panels possibly designed by Margaret. It was made by the decorating firm of craftsmen, J. & W. Guthrie, Glasgow and was exhibited at the 1896 Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society exhibition in London. Mackintosh commissioned the construction of his furnishing and interiors from key Glasgow’ artisan manufacturers, and over 30 firms were involved in the creation of the Willow Tea Rooms. Image copyright Newsquest (Herald & Times) Item Location The Herald Photographic Archive Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Interior of the Willow Tea Room, Glasgow, 1903 architects Arts and Crafts Celtic revival design schools exhibitions Glasgow London women craftworkers wrought iron https://www.artisansinscotland.shca.ed.ac.uk/files/original/ef8489399d8260a1d9fe03a859d319df.jpg 3000fac149677d31f9b575ab20fa601a Exhibition Item Title Doorpiece, Queen Street, Edinburgh Category Buildings Description 64 Queen Street in Edinburgh’s New Town, built in 1790 for the Earl of Wemyss, has one of the most splendid of town house entrances in the city, with input from a range of craftsmen. The finely carved yellow sandstone at the ground floor level of the four-storey house is carved in a manner that is seen along the length of the terrace, called ‘channelled rustication.’ The stonework at basement level was roughly hewn and the upper floors are finely chiselled. The doorway is framed with fluted columns and an ornamental frieze containing rosette motifs. The iron railings and oil lamp stands are designed to match and were probably made in Falkirk at the famous Carron Iron works, where craftsmen producing fine castings worked along side the mass produced output of gutters and pipes, everyday pots and pans and military iron wares. Skilled metal workers also produced the finely detailed lace-like semi-circular wrought iron fanlight. The latter varied greatly from house to house, with the finer the detail the greater the expense and prestige. External uniformity allowed few opportunities to articulate the individuality or status of the householder. Inside was a different matter, for it was here that most of the costly decoration or materials and variations in design were deployed, from carved marble fireplaces to finely detailed plaster cornices or brass door furniture. The entrance to the house was an exception, giving opportunities for some to make a grand impression. The building of Edinburgh’s New Town, and equivalent town planning schemes elsewhere and particularly in London, sustained armies of craftsmen in the building and house decorating trades. With design expertise at a premium, the most able apprentices in areas like wrought iron working, plastering or stone and woodcarving, commonly took classes at the local design schools that flourished in Scotland. Though styles of housing changed from mid century, the technologies of house building remained largely unaltered and later architect designers, such as Robert Lorimer, similarly drew on the skills of favoured craft workers. Eighteenth and early nineteenth century town planning gave rise to uniform street facades dominated by terraced town houses conforming to an urban aesthetic where ordered neoclassical design predominated. The town house was an architectural type that called on the skills of an array of craftsmen both inside and out and many of the greatest architects of the day, such as Robert Adam, designed such houses and terraces for elite customers. The construction was commonly undertaken on a speculative basis by craftsmen drawn from a variety of skill backgrounds with capital and expertise in building project management. Image copyright RCAHMS Item Location Edinburgh New Town Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Doorpiece, 64 Queen Street, New Town, Edinburgh, 1790 apprentices architects Brass Carron Edinburgh Falkirk granite iron neoclassical Robert Adam stone carving https://www.artisansinscotland.shca.ed.ac.uk/files/original/5e8a4e5d60abb7c994529b67ca32bd5f.jpg f9da39162a622b20635a54c38a407900 Exhibition Item Category Buildings Image copyright National Museums Scotland Item Location National Museum Scotland Description The banks of the river Dee in highland Aberdeenshire are dotted with castles and mansions mostly built in the nineteenth century as shooting lodges. They include Queen Victoria’s Balmoral and Mar Lodge, owned by the duke of Fife and his duchess, Princess Louise, which was destroyed by a fire in June 1895. Descriptions of the fire give an indication of the tradesmen and communities that great buildings supported. It began when a group of Aberdeen plumbers were fitting a ventilation pipe into a closet near the Duke’s rooms and carried a pot of molten lead into the house. A draught from the windows blew a spark onto wood shavings used to protect pipes from frosting and a fire took hold, spreading rapidly through the building. The plumbers were joined in their efforts to extinguish the fire by estate workers summoned by the overseer and by a team of masons who were on site, led by a builder, Mr MacDonald. The later may have been George Macdonald of Aberdeen. The house contents were saved, but not the lodge, which was rebuilt shortly after. The architect for the new Mar Lodge was A. Marshal Mackenzie of Aberdeen, who had recently completed Crathie Church at Balmoral. Born in Elgin and based in Aberdeen, Mackenzie had an established team of skilled Aberdeen craftsmen to draw on for his northeast Scotland work, who lived in bothies on-site for the duration of his building projects. The Mar Lodge construction was famed for its use of locally grown wood in the building itself and for the furniture. This photograph of thirty-five men, with their trades and professions indicated by their clothing and tools, posed in front of Mar Lodge as it was nearing completion, shows pride in craft and community. The men seated on the ground at the front are plumbers, with one of them holding an impressive U-bend pipe and another displaying the soles of his hob-nailed boots. The man seated on the far left is holding tinsmith scissors. The suited young man with a watch-chain on the right is probably a clerk and the older man on the middle left with rolled plans under his arm is the builder overseeing the works. The men dressed in white are painters or plasterers. The second to back row has the carpenters, with their saws and planes displayed. Some of those in the image are estate workers, including a ghillie wearing a deerstalker hat and tweeds at the top left. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Craftsmen at Mar Lodge, Braemar, ca. 1900 Aberdeen architects builders carpenters decorators furniture plasterers plumbers tinsmiths wood https://www.artisansinscotland.shca.ed.ac.uk/files/original/f98f9a485b4770de8c4597c43e26760b.jpg 89b4bd727607e20a3d6ed15cddff432a Exhibition Item Category Metal Wares Image copyright National Museums Scotland Item Location National Museums Scotland Description This photograph shows three smiths working on the wrought iron gates designed by architect Robert Lorimer for the Thistle Chapel in Edinburgh’s St Giles Cathedral. The men are using hand tools and bench-fixed vices to shape the gate’s iron fretwork. The smith to the right is working on its interlocking lower section while the other two are using hammers and metal files to shape curved and lattice forms. Two finished sections of the gates can be seen leaning against the workshop walls. The chapel was designed as a commission from the Trustees of The Order of the Thistle who wanted to create a meeting place for the Knights of the Order of the Thistle in a building that embodied nationalist spirit. When the commission was awarded to Lorimer in 1909 the Trustees stipulated that Scottish craftsmen should carry out as much of the work as possible. Hadden provided the metal door furniture and gates, the firm of W & A Clow carved the ornate choir stalls; Phoebe Traquair and Whytock and Reid were other Edinburgh-based contributors.. The Chapel’s granite and marble floor was the work of James Allen & Sons of Piershill, and the coloured glass the work of Aberdeen glass-stainer Douglas Strachan. On its completion in 1911 the Thistle Chapel represented the very best in Scottish craftsmanship in stonework, metal work and woodcarving. Thomas Hadden (1871-1940) was born in Hamilton, Lanarkshire, to a metal working family from Haddington, East Lothian. He trained at Howgate near Edinburgh and worked for James Milne & Sons in Edinburgh before starting in business in partnership with his brother who was a wood carver. Hadden's reputation as a skilled art metal worker led to his involvement in numerous prestigious commissions, notably the garden ornaments and railings at Skirling House in Peebleshire. Architectural commissions were a key area of his business - he made gates and railings but also more whimsical features including weather vanes, shop signs and bootscrapers. Hadden was at the helm of his workshop for over 40 years, and many of his employees remained with the firm throughout their working lives, but the 1930s and 1940s saw a period of change including a move to Murrayfield on the outskirts of the city. Robert died in 1940 but the workshop continued to execute architectural ironwork, including the Glasgow University Quincentenary gates (1952) and the J Eversden Henderson-designed memorial gates at the George Heriot School (1959). Robert Lorimer (1864-1929) is perhaps Scotland’s best known Arts and Crafts architect, though prior to the Thistle Chapel he’d worked on only one previous ecclesiastical commission. Born in Edinburgh but raised in Fife, Lorimer trained as a furniture maker as well as an architect. He is notable for his employment of local craftsmen throughout his career. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Thomas Hadden’s workshop, Edinburgh, ca. 1910 architects Arts and Crafts Edinburgh Fife granite joiners Lorimer masons smiths stained glass stone carving wood wrought-iron