Mackintosh's Glasgow – Tearooms, His Only Church and His Home
A day on foot, from Glasgow Central to Kelvinhall Subway.
The route
Charles Rennie Mackintosh was born in Glasgow in 1868, and the city is still the place to meet him and Margaret Macdonald, the artist he married.
This day walks across it, from the centre to the West End. It starts across Gordon Street from Central Station with two of his newspaper buildings, then climbs to Sauchiehall Street for a tour of the tearooms the couple made for Miss Cranston. From there it's past the School of Art and north to Queen's Cross, the only church of his ever built, then over the Kelvin to the Hunterian, where their own home lives on inside the university's gallery. It ends at Kelvingrove, among the furniture, glass and metalwork of the Glasgow Style. It's about 4.5 miles on foot, with climbs to Garnethill and Gilmorehill.
Before you go
Book the 10am tour a few days ahead: Queen's Cross opens only on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and the Mackintosh House shuts on Mondays, so the whole day runs on a Wednesday or a Friday.
Book a bed near the city centre
Stay near Central Station or Sauchiehall Street and the day starts at your door; at the end of it, the Subway takes about 10 minutes from Kelvinhall back to Buchanan Street. From 25 January 2027 Glasgow adds a visitor levy of 5% to every night of a paid stay.
The nearest of ours is Moment Blythswood Street. Sleeps 2.
Book a table at the Mackintosh Tearooms
Book a table for 11am, when the tearooms open, straight after the tour.
The day
Mackintosh
A day on foot through Mackintosh's Glasgow, from his newspaper buildings across from Central Station up to the white tearooms on Sauchiehall Street, and north to his church at Queen's Cross. The afternoon crosses the Kelvin to the West End for the rooms he and Margaret Macdonald lived in, and ends among the Glasgow Style at Kelvingrove. Set off from Central Station at about 9.30am.
The Herald Tower and the Daily Record Building
From Central Station's Gordon Street door, it's a 2-minute walk east to the corner of West Nile Street. Look south down Mitchell Street to the tower of the old Glasgow Herald building, finished in 1895 to hold a water tank. It's the Lighthouse now, shut since 2020. Then head back along Gordon Street to Renfield Lane, off Renfield Street, for Mackintosh's Daily Record building of 1904, in white glazed brick with green-brick trees rising up its walls.
12 min on foot
The Mackintosh Tearooms
A tour
It's a 12-minute walk uphill by Blythswood Square, where Mackintosh drew the doorway of number 5 for the Lady Artists' Club, to 217 Sauchiehall Street. These are the tearooms he and Margaret made for Catherine Cranston in 1903, now the National Trust for Scotland's Mackintosh Tearooms. The 10am tour takes a small group through the rooms to the Salon de Luxe, all silver chairs and mirrored glass. Stay for tea at a table booked for 11. The Willow Tea Rooms on Buchanan Street recreate his Ingram Street rooms.
30 min on foot
Mackintosh Queen's Cross
It's a 30-minute walk, first along Renfrew Street past the Glasgow School of Art, wrapped in scaffolding since the fire of 2018. Then it's on by St George's Cross and up Maryhill Road, a busy main road, to Queen's Cross, the only church of Mackintosh's ever built. Its tower borrows from one he sketched in Somerset. Inside, look up at the timber barrel vault and its steel beams, and find the blue heart in the window. It opens on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays only, 11am to 4pm.
25 min on foot
The Mackintosh House
The 25-minute walk west goes by Kelvinbridge, where Great Western Road crosses the river and the cafés are good for lunch. Then climb Gibson Street to the Hunterian Art Gallery and the Mackintosh House, where the rooms Charles and Margaret lived in were saved when their terrace came down in 1963. Upstairs, the L-shaped studio and drawing room is all white bar his dark writing cabinet, and still looks startlingly modern. Their bedroom is white too, with a four-poster bed. It's open Tuesday to Sunday, last in at 4.15pm.
14 min on foot
Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum
An attraction
Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, which is free, is a 14-minute walk down University Avenue and Kelvin Way. Go straight to the gallery of Mackintosh and the Glasgow Style. Parts of Miss Cranston's Ingram Street tearooms are here, and Margaret's gesso panel The May Queen, made for them in 1900, hangs beside his Wassail. The original of her Willowwood panel from the Salon de Luxe belongs to the museum too. Stay until the doors close at 5pm. Kelvinhall Subway is an 11-minute walk away.
If it rains
Most of this day is already under a roof: the tour and tea, the church, the house and the museum. In heavy rain, ride instead of walking the two long stretches. From the Tearooms it's a 5-minute walk to Cowcaddens Subway, one stop to St George's Cross, then 15 minutes up Maryhill Road to Queen's Cross. After it, walk back to St George's Cross and ride two stops to Hillhead, 9 minutes' walk from the Mackintosh House. Any spare time belongs to the Hunterian Art Gallery in the same building, which is free.
Worth a detour
- Andy Scott's statue of Mackintosh
Instead of the Subway, walk back into town along Argyle Street. It's 17 minutes from Kelvingrove to Andy Scott's bronze of Mackintosh in Anderston, sitting on one of his own high-backed chairs and looking west towards the museum. It was unveiled in December 2018, 90 years after his death, the first public statue of him. Central Station is a 21-minute walk on.
- Scotland Street School Museum
Mackintosh's school on the south side of the river is shut for refurbishment, with no date yet to reopen. From the street you can still see its two tall glass stair towers, a 3-minute walk from Shields Road Subway. Look from the pavement only.
- House for an Art Lover
Mackintosh drew this house in 1901, and it was only built between 1989 and 1996, in Bellahouston Park. It makes a day of its own with Pollok Park and the Burrell, and our Southside day walks to it from Dumbreck station. Its rooms keep their own hours, week by week, so check its website before you go.
GlasgowStravaiginA restaurant
GlasgowCottonrake BakeryA café
GlasgowBlack Pine Coffee CoA café
GlasgowMother India's CafeA restaurant
GlasgowKimchi CultA restaurant
GlasgowMezcalMexican, by Central Station
GlasgowThe Horseshoe BarVictorian pub, since 1884
GlasgowChaakoo Bombay CafeBombay café, St Vincent Street
GlasgowHalloumiA restaurant
Glasgowkaf coffeeA café
GlasgowPanangA restaurant
GlasgowBibimbapA restaurantMake it a weekend
More days out in Glasgow.
Photographs by Crowsus (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Wikimedia Commons; Linda Suskie, Earl Cohen and Jana Eremiasova via Google