A grant of almost £4m from the National Lottery is set to complete the restoration and preservation of the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Willow Tea Rooms Building in Glasgow.
The £3.579m award from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) will ensure the completion of The Willow Tea Rooms Trust's mission to conserve and restore the buidling. The tea rooms and new visitor centre are scheduled to open for the City of Glasgow’s celebrations to mark the 150th anniversary of Mackintosh’s birth on the 7 June 2018.
The HLF award will allow The Willow Tea Room Trust to continue their work restoring the original tea rooms and famous Salon de Luxe. The Trust also plans to incorporate an interactive visitor centre, education and learning suite, conference facilities and shop to ensure that the project is sustainable for future generations to enjoy.
Lucy Casot, Head of HLF Scotland, said, “What better way to celebrate the Year of History Heritage & Archaeology than to support the revival of these famous tea rooms. Thanks to players of the National Lottery, we are delighted that works by one of Scotland’s greatest and most influential designers will be restored so that they can be enjoyed by all as they were first intended.”
The building is recognised internationally as the only surviving tea room designed in its entirety by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Mackintosh and his wife, Margaret MacDonald, had total control over both the architecture and decorative elements, from the interior and the design of the cutlery to the waitress’s uniforms.
The achievements of Glasgow businesswoman, Miss Cranston, the original owner who commissioned the tea rooms designed by Mackintosh in 1903 will also be celebrated within the visitor centre.
Celia Sinclair, Founder and Chair of The Willow Tea Room Trust, said, “Thanks to National Lottery players the important cultural and rich heritage of The Willow Tea Rooms Building will be conserved. Works to the exterior of the building are almost complete. The HLF award means that our vision for restoring the interior, commissioning furniture, crockery, cutlery and building the interactive visitor centre along with an education and learning suite, conference facilities and shop can now forge ahead.”