The history of Mackintosh Queen’s Cross.

By the late 19th century, Glasgow had become the “second city” of the British Empire and the shipbuilding capital of the world. One consequence of this extraordinary growth was a wave of new church buildings undertaken to meet the needs of an expanding population – Queen’s Cross accommodated a congregation of 820!

In 1896, the Free Church of St Matthew, Glasgow, commissioned a new church and hall from the experienced Glasgow architectural practice of Honeyman & Keppie, to be located in the developing area of Springbank, near Maryhill. John Honeyman allocated the job to his young, talented, trainee architect, Charles Rennie Mackintosh. The site was a tricky one, being bounded on two sides by busy roads, and butted by tenements and a large warehouse. In keeping with their beliefs, the Free Church required simplicity in design. The foundation stone was laid on 23 June 1898 and the building opened for worship on 10 September 1899.

The construction of Queen’s Cross was contemporary with the first phase of Mackintosh’s masterpiece, The Glasgow School of Art (1897–9). It reveals a sophisticated handling of form, ornament and symbolic meaning, even at this relatively early date. Dr Thomas Howarth, Mackintosh’s first biographer, wrote of the church, ‘the building possesses a warmth and charm conspicuously absent from many churches of the period due largely to the traditional simplicity of Mackintosh’s architectural forms and to the mysticism and spirituality of his decorative motives.’

Externally the design is predominately gothic in its approach but Mackintosh incorporated some inventive detailing and carving around the church. He was often inspired by his sketching trips to England and Italy. The tower is closely modelled on a medieval parish church that Mackintosh sketched in 1895, All Saints, Merriott, Somerset, England.