Glasgow City Chambers

This afternoon I attended a special showing of Mackintosh & The Fall and Rise of Mackintosh at the GFT.
Mackintosh, Murray Grigor’s first independent film In 1968 won five international awards, helping to re-establish the reputation of Mackintosh, now celebrated world-wide as one of the most creative figures of the early twentieth century. Originally broadcast on Scottish television in 1991, The Fall and Rise of Mackintosh revisited Grigor’s 1968 landmark film. The film charted the process that put Mackintosh on the international map as a great force in contemporary architecture and design and analysed his architectural legacy as an ‘architect’s architect’. I met up with Murray after the film.

This evening I was invited to a special reception at the Banqueting Hall at Glasgow City Chambers to celebrate the inaugral flight by WestJet from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Glasgow. During the event we had two special performances by Bruce Guthro. The singer / songwriter, from Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia did a superb acoustic version of Loch Lomond. Guthro has recorded as a solo artist, and in 1998 joined the Scottish folk rock band Runrig, whilst still pursuing his solo career.

As I left the Banqueting Hall I took this shot of the marvellous staircase. Opened in August 1888 by Queen Victoria, the City Chambers has the largest marble staircase in Western Europe, with architect William Young thought to have been inspired by Italian design.

I have added a shot of Murray and Bruce.