Hill House
Hill House is a structure designed by architects and designers Charles and Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh in Helensburgh, Scotland. The home is a noteworthy example of Modern Style architecture (British Art Nouveau style). In 1902-1904, it was conceived and erected for publisher Walter Blackie. Mackintosh also designed the inside of the house, including the furnishings and fixtures. The house was bequeathed to the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) in 1982, and it is now maintained and available to tourists.
The building's homogeneous and drab exterior treatment merges perfectly with the cloudy sky. The entirely asymmetrical design creates various roof levels and shapes, and it also reflects Mackintosh's admiration for A. W. N. Pugin's gorgeous utility, in which the outside contour emerges from the inside layout. The sparse décor, thick walls, and rectangular and square windows convey a sturdy, somber architecture. The building's outward characteristics are practically the polar opposite of its pleasant, exotic, well designed, and smooth inside. Again, Mackintosh applies Pugin's philosophy by limiting outside adornment in order to highlight interior design: the passage from the outside world into a safe, magnificent inner setting. Paint study of the harling on the outside suggests that it was originally whitewashed pale grey.
The mansion mixed the conventional 'femininity' of an intimate, internal area with the'masculinity' of the external public realm, both of which were seldom utilised throughout the building's interior. Bringing the male features to the inside, according to Mackintosh, would break away from the overly ornamented, wholly feminine traditional interiors. This enabled him to express various emotions and sensations based on the objective of each location. When it was important to accomplish a thorough experience shift from one place to another, Mackintosh employed diverse materials, colors, and lighting. All in such a beautiful and well-planned manner that the lack of one would spoil the other.
Location: Upper Colquhoun Street, Helensburgh G84 9AJ, Scotland
