# Glasgow School of Art
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasgow-school-of-art/816292
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Tags:** arts-crafts
**Created:** [June 17, 2018, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasgow-school-of-art/816292 "2018-06-17T22:30:02Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2018, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasgow-school-of-art/816292/1 "2018-06-17T22:30:02Z")
Since it’s an ongoing news story, this could possibly go in MPIMS, but the fire that has destroyed Mackintosh’s art school is possibly the worst destruction of an important piece of architecture that I can remember in my lifetime. (No-one died, which is worth holding on to given the recent anniversary of Grenfell,) Even with the previous fire, this was probably the single most important piece of architecture in Scotland. That now seems probably utterly destroyed.
There’s a bit of me whose reaction is: it’s gone. That’s it. It has become on a par with say the Hanging Gardens of Babylon or the Library of Alexandria. Except that some of us saw it and (in my case, barely) knew it. There are the memories of it that will live on, but then die.
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### Author:  [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2018, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasgow-school-of-art/816292/2 "2018-06-18T00:34:54Z")
In case anyone hasn’t been following the story the building has been closed, undergoing restoration since a fire 4 years ago. A lot of people are angry that didn’t take precautions against another fire.
> [@](#):
>
> Prof Billy Hare of Glasgow Caledonian University said he believed it was questionable whether anything would be salvageable. “If not, damaged buildings have been taken down almost stone by stone in the past and rebuilt with a new, internal frame,” he said. “This sort of project will cost a great deal more than the estimated 35 million after the last fire in May 2014”.
>
> He put a conservative estimated cost for full rebuilding of the damaged building at around £100m.
> **[Glasgow School of Art: sprinklers had not been fitted after first fire](https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/jun/17/glasgow-school-of-art-fire-rennie-mackintosh-sprinklers)**
>
> Hopes rise that Mackintosh facade can be saved amid questions over why sprinkler system was not prioritised
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### Author:  [@Batano](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batano)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2018, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasgow-school-of-art/816292/3 "2018-06-18T04:06:28Z")
I’m glad I got to visit it years ago. One of my favorite buidings. You can still visit some of his tea houses in Glasgow
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### Author:  [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2018, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasgow-school-of-art/816292/4 "2018-06-18T08:53:11Z")
Given that [within the past few decades, an entire Mackintosh house on a not-dissimilar scale, which had previously existed only as designs, was built in Glasgow](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_for_an_Art_Lover), I don’t see any obvious objection to rebuilding the School of Art, from scratch if necessary. Also, the art school is going to need a new building anyway. Commissioning that new building to a new design would surely be the architectural commission from hell.
The biggest challenge might be persuading donors to donate a second time. Time for them to wheel out Brad Pitt and Peter Capaldi yet again.
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### Author:  [@eunoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eunoia)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2018, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasgow-school-of-art/816292/5 "2018-06-18T09:14:40Z")
I only knew it from the Arte Achitectures series: [The Glasgow School of Art - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFI43D02vTs)
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### Author:  [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)
#### Post date: [June 21, 2018, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasgow-school-of-art/816292/6 "2018-06-21T02:17:51Z")
I had never heard of it before, but in a weird coincidence at dinner tonight I sat next to a woman from Glasgow, and she was pretty upset about it. It was clearly a strong object of local pride and a cultural touchpoint for people from that area. ☹
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### Author:  [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2026, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasgow-school-of-art/816292/7 "2026-07-24T16:14:56Z")
> [@PastTense](#):
>
> He put a conservative estimated cost for full rebuilding of the damaged building at around £100m.
Updating this 2018 thread, it still hasn’t been rebuilt and:
> Doubly destroyed by two fires, Scotland’s finest piece of architecture, the Mackintosh building at the [Glasgow School of Art](https://www.theguardian.com/education/glasgowschoolofart) (GSA), cuts a lamentable sight, its charred carcass tightly shrouded in white plastic sheeting, like a vacuum-packed Christo sculpture. A 12-year saga of [destruction](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/may/23/charles-rennie-mackintosh-library-feared-lost-glasgow-school-of-art-blaze), rebuilding and [yet more destruction](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jun/16/firefighters-tackle-blaze-at-glasgow-school-of-art), all underscored by an unedifying seam of political and institutional wrangling, reached an apologetic conclusion of sorts, with the [recent announcement](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce34lxy2793o) that Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s exquisite art nouveau creation is unlikely to be rebuilt in its original form because of stratospheric cost. The GSA said **a full rebuild or “faithful reinstatement” of the burnt-out 1909 landmark, which, while still remaining a long-term ambition, would cost £265m, four times previous estimates and five times the GSA’s annual turnover**.
> **[‘Future generations will curse us for its loss’: can nothing save Glasgow...](https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2026/jul/24/mackintosh-building-fire-restoration-glasgow-school-of-art-scotland)**
>
> Stratospheric costs could prevent the fire-damaged landmark from returning to its former glory. Now, unless a wealthy patron is found, the building seems destined for ‘soulless’ facade retention or ‘curated decay’
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### Author:  [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2026, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasgow-school-of-art/816292/8 "2026-07-24T17:56:25Z")
For 265 bar, can they rebuild it to a modern standard where it will not instantly burn down again?
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### Author:  [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2026, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasgow-school-of-art/816292/9 "2026-07-24T19:46:55Z")
Quite apart from all the other reasons why this is really depressing, there is the fact that the Notre Dame fire _and_ its full restoration have taken place since this thread was originally started.
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### Author:  [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2026, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasgow-school-of-art/816292/10 "2026-07-24T20:14:43Z")
Interesting building I see some similarities in the Obama Center. Shame its reconstruction is halted.
> [@eunoia](#):
>
> I only knew it from the Arte Achitectures series: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFI43D02vTs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFI43D02vTs)
I saw this video, while one expects a certain level of messiness in art studios, I was surprised at how grungy and ill kept some of the studios appeared. Waste of resources and potentially dangerous to leave materials lying around forgotten like that.