Tea for Two / Chá para Dois: Architectural Exhibition & Events

Tea for Two / Chá para Dois: Architectural Exhibition & Events
12 September – 2 October 2025, Mackintosh Queen’s Cross, Glasgow

Presented by Graeme Nicholls Architects, Tea for Two / Chá para Dois is a new exhibition exploring architectural and cultural connections between Scotland and Portugal. It places Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s original Willow Tearooms in dialogue with Álvaro Siza’s Boa Nova Tea House, offering a reflective look at design, craft, place, and ritual through drawings, models, photography, film, and original artefacts.

From Catherine of Braganza’s introduction of tea to the British court to its reinterpretation by Mackintosh and Siza, the exhibition considers how shared traditions can transcend borders. Set within Mackintosh’s only built church, it provides a fitting space to reflect on architecture as a social and cultural act.

A programme of four public events accompanies the exhibition:

Exhibition Opening Event: Álvaro Siza Film Premiere & Exhibition Preview
Thursday 11 September 2025, 7pm
A special launch evening featuring the premiere of a filmed interview with Álvaro Siza, in which the Pritzker Prize-winning architect reflects on Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s influence, the design of his own Casa de Chá, and his wider architectural practice. The screening will be followed by a first look at the exhibition.
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Talk: Isabel Stilwell – Raise Your Teacup to Catherine of Braganza
Thursday 18 September 2025, 7pm
Portuguese author and journalist Isabel Stilwell discusses her bestselling historical novel ‘Catherine of Braganza – The courage of a Portuguese Infanta who became Queen of England’. Known for her widely read biographies of notable Portuguese women, Stilwell explores the life of the 17th-century princess who became Queen of England, highlighting her cultural legacy and role in popularising tea drinking in Britain.
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Talk: Oliver Braid – Mackintosh at the Willow
Wednesday 24 September 2025, 7pm
Based on the popular public tours, this illustrated talk by Oliver Braid, Creative Learning Manager for Mackintosh at the Willow, will guide guests through the story of the original Willow Tearooms building, now Mackintosh at the Willow, with stories of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Margaret Macdonald, and their patron, the Edwardian entrepreneur Kate Cranston.
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A Final Cup: Conversations Across Cultures
Thursday 2 October 2025, 7pm
A panel discussion on the cultural significance of tea and the tearoom, both in Glasgow and further afield. Chaired by Stuart Robertson of the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society, the panel includes architect Graeme Nicholls and Dr Lindsay Middleton, a University of Glasgow food historian specialising in Scottish food culture. The discussion will be followed by a short guided tour offering a final opportunity to view the exhibition, with commentary on selected highlights.
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Presented with support from:
The Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society, Camões Instituto, The Anglo-Portuguese Society, Glasgow Institute of Architects, Friends of Glasgow Museums, Mackintosh at the Willow, National Trust for Scotland, João Morgado Photographer, Lebond Watches, Craft Design Construction, Seventeen House, and the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland.

Doors Open Days

Open on Saturday 20 Sept. & Sunday 21 Sept. from 12noon to 5pm on both days.

Talks on Queen’s Cross each Day:  1pm, 2pm, 3pm & 4pm.

Mackintosh Queen’s Cross is one of Glasgow’s hidden architectural gems. The only church in the world designed by the great Scottish architect, designer and artist, Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

Commissioned in 1896 by the Free Church, the simplicity of the design is inspiring. The windows are Gothic in character, yet are infused with the Mackintosh spirit, and the floral motifs he affected can be easily recognised, particularly on the tracery of the large western window above the chancel.

Mackintosh Queen’s Cross now houses a plethora of events for the CRM Society and has provided Glasgow with a new venue for weddings, concerts, meetings and seminars. The CRM Society continues to deliver lively learning experiences, workshops and activities for schools, students, adults, families and children.

www.mackintosh.org.uk 

The Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society is an independent, non-profit making charity, established in 1973 to promote and encourage awareness of the Scottish architect and designer, Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

The Society has over 700 members across the world with active affiliate groups arranging local events in, London and the SE, and Japan, and an associate group in Port Vendres. Become a member today!

www.crmsociety.com 

Exhibition in the Hall

Tea for Two / Chá para Exhibition & Events

12 September – 2 October 2025, Mackintosh Queen’s Cross, Glasgow

Presented by Graeme Nicholls Architects, Tea for Two / Chá para Dois is a new exhibition exploring architectural and cultural connections between Scotland and Portugal. It places Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s original Willow Tearooms in dialogue with Álvaro Siza’s Boa Nova Tea House, offering a reflective look at design, craft, place, and ritual through drawings, models, photography, film, and original artefacts.

Tea for Two / Chá para Dois: Architectural Exhibition & Events

[un]Faithful Reinstatement – Exhibition Opening and Panel Discussion

Mackintosh Queen’s Cross | Thursday 30 October 2025 at 7.00pm

The exhibition runs from 31 October – 9 November 2025 during normal opening hours.

The Mexico City Architects Saving Their Heritage by Altering It

[un]Faithful Reinstatement is an exhibition looking to reframe how we view heritage building reuse in Glasgow.

To do so, it makes the comparison to a city with heritage at its core – Mexico City. A place that may feel like worlds apart from Glasgow with its Aztec roots and subtropical climate – but much like Glasgow, its currently tackling a problem of decaying architecture in its central neighbourhoods.

Abandonment compounded by earthquake damage has degraded the once opulent townhouses built during the dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz.

The structures left standing contain layers of the city’s history, a nation that was expanding post colonisation, becoming an enclave for artists, writers and political thinkers in the 19^th and 20^th Centuries.

This research exhibits successful examples of reoccupying these places, using the often ruinous existing character as the focal point.

It set out to discover how Mexican architects and entrepreneurs have reinvented the ruins – taking hold of their city’s resources and activating them. Often this reactivation involves being unfaithful to the original architectural intention, reinterpreting the program, circulation and atmosphere of the buildings former self.

It exhibits individual success stories of reusage,  explaining through built examples different pathways to reopening—looking at the structural interventions; interior finishes; business models; navigation of the listed system; adherence to building code; as well as the philosophical implications of the decision-making process.

These stories were investigated through interview with designer and inhabitant, documenting each example thoroughly and revealing the process to new inhabitation.

But what about Glasgow?

This work forms a counterproposal to the attitude towards conservation in the UK, where heritage buildings are covered in red tape, implemented to protect them, but leaves developers unwilling to engage, stagnating their decline until the wrecking ball arrives

In a conversation that so often revolves around finance, Mexico City’s precedent reveals the economic advantage of neighbourhoods utilising their historic assets for cultural usages, displaying how this can be done simply without high costs of comprehensive restoration often stipulated in the UK context.

A panel discussion will be responding to the potential of applying similar principles to buildings at risk in Glasgow.

What is applicable? What are the obstacles? What would have to change?

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Mackintosh Queen’s Cross, 870 Garscube Rd, Glasgow, G20 7EL

30th October Opening and Panel Discussion, 19:00 arrival for 19:30 start.

Exhibition runs 31st Oct – 9th Nov normal opening hours.

With funding from The CRM Society and Glasgow City Heritage Trust.

Faraj Suleiman

Mackintosh Queen’s Cross | Saturday 8 November 2025 at 7.30pm

Doors open at 6.45pm

Tickets £12.00 + booking fee (Conc. £5.00 + booking fee) available from Cove Park

Widely regarded as a leading contemporary jazz pianist and composer, Faraj Suleiman‘s music is deeply influenced by his Palestinian heritage and Arabic culture. Trained in classical music, Faraj Suleiman incorporates both Arabic/Eastern melodies and rhythms and jazz traditions in his compositions. Now, based in Paris and embarking on a European tour in autumn 2025, Faraj Suleiman will make his Glasgow debut at Mackintosh Queen’s Cross on Saturday 8 November as part of the Bagri Music Awards presented by Cove Park and the Bagri Foundation. 

In August 2025, international residency Cove Park announced a new two-year partnership with the Bagri Foundation, to launch Sound Series, a new programme of residencies bringing acclaimed international musicians to the UK. The Bagri Foundation works within a network of leading cultural organisations that champion artistic excellence and provide extraordinary artists from across Asia, wider visibility on the global stage. Working collaboratively to nominate and select the artists, Bagri Music Award aims to artistic development and a unique opportunity for acclaimed emerging or mid-career musicians from West Asia.

This performance marks the culmination of Suleiman’s Cove Park residency, developed in collaboration with MARSM, the London-based event producer and dynamic digital platform amplifying the vibrant musical culture of the Arabic-speaking world.

This 60-minute performance is a 16+ event with general admission seating. Doors and bar open at 6:45pm. 

Advance tickets: £12
At the door: £15
Open Concession*: £5

There is a £1 booking fee to cover Ticket Tailor’s administrative costs.

*Open concession tickets are available to anyone who needs it, no questions asked. Companion tickets for those who require extra support to attend are free. 

John Smith

Mackintosh Queen’s Cross | Friday 14 November 2025 at 7.00pm

Tickets £22.00 +booking fee (available from Ticket Scotland)

Born in Essex, raised by the Devon seaside and making his bones in the bars and clubs of Liverpool, England’s one and only John Smith has been at the pioneering forefront of British Folk Guitar Music for twenty years. He has amassed over 100 million Spotify streams and played his songs all over the world. He cut his teeth opening for John Martyn and has since played with Joan Baez, Jackson Browne, Sarah Jarosz, Lisa Hannigan, David Gray, The Milk Carton Kids, Roseanne Cash, Jerry Douglas and Richard Hawley. His seventh album ‘The Living Kind’, produced by Joe Henry, is a soulful and intimate exploration of emotional, Americana-influenced atmospherics. John will be releasing a new album later in 2025.

14+, under 16s with an adult over 18

Penguin Cafe Orchestra

Mackintosh Queen’s Cross | Thursday 20 November 2025 at 7.30pm

Tickets £32.00 +booking fee (available from SeeTickets)

2025 sees Penguin Cafe bringing the music of the legendary Penguin Cafe Orchestra back to life, with UK dates featuring a collection of PCO classics, celebrating the unique sound that has captivated audiences worldwide.

Past Events ……..

HEIR OF THE CURSED

Mackintosh Queen’s Cross | Saturday 30 August 2025 at 7.00pm

Tickets £25.00 + booking fee (Conc. £15.00) Tickets for ‘Heir of the Cursed’ Album Release Concert

Haunting, visceral, defying genre and flipping the finger to convention, Heir Of The Cursed is the debut album by Scottish-Kenyan musician Beldina Odenyo, who died in 2021.

Beldina, who had been performing live as Heir of the Cursed since 2016, recorded these songs in her home studios Govanhill and Paisley. In celebration of her unique voice and remarkable talent, her family have arranged for the album to be mixed and mastered, and are releasing it on what would have been her 35th birthday, 30th August 2025.

The album will be launched with a live performance at the Mackintosh Church in Glasgow, featuring guest vocalists Kathryn Joseph, Rick Redbeard, Rae Lena, Callum Easter, Sacred Paws, Djana Gabrielle, Leah McAleer, Lewis Semple, Megan Airlie and Kimberley Mandindo.

DATES

Digital & Vinyl Release: 30/08/25

Album Launch: 30/08/25, Mackintosh Church Glasgow.

Singles:         Hold The Mirror, 19/06/25

                        Walking Disaster, 21/07/25

An Evening With Irvine Welsh

Mackintosh Queen’s Cross | Friday 25 July 2025 at 7.00pm

Tickets £5.00 or £24 with a copy of Men In Love from Waterstones

Irvine Welsh joins us to launch his latest novel, Men In Love, the immediate sequel to Trainspotting, continuing the stories of Renton, Spud, Sick Boy and Begbie!

Set in the late 1980s and early ’90s against the backdrop of rave culture, Men In Love follows the iconic Trainspotting crew through the dying days of Thatcher’s Britain as they do what they can to feel alive, all while asking themselves whether falling in love is the answer to their problems, or just another futile quest?

Irvine will join us for an event in the beautiful setting of Mackintosh Queen’s Cross to discuss returning to the boys, filling in this gap in their stories, and his own memories of Edinburgh in the 1980s and 1990s, as well as signing copies of Men In Love.

Maciej Granat plays Film Music

Mackintosh Queen’s Cross | Saturday 28 June 2025 at 6.30pm

Tickets £10.00 Conc. £8.00+booking fee (available from Universe)

Maciej Granat presents an exciting programme of themes from movies, TV shows and games arranged for piano in the stunning acoustics of Mackintosh Queen’s Cross. Moving, epic, silly and majestic themes from Indiana Jones, Princess Mononoke, Inception, Zelda, Halo, The Sims and much more! Tickets: £10/£8 conc., available at the door. Mackintosh Queen’s Cross, 28th June 2025, doors open: 6pm.