Friday, 23 May 2014
Statement from Muriel Gray, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Glasgow School of Art
Statement from Muriel Gray, Chair of the Board of Trustees of The Glasgow School of Art
I am passing this on from the Traditional Architecture listserv. Since Niall is an architect and not a librarian, he offers information from the structural point of view.
Lucy
* * * * * * * The Tradarch List is an open forum for the discussion of the theory and practice of traditional architecture; It is affiliated with the Certificate in Classical Architecture at the University of Miami School of Architecture. Please direct enquiries to the listowner, Dr Richard John ([log in to unmask]). To join (or leave) the listserv, or to browse its archives, visit www.tradarch.net.* * * * * * * The Tradarch List is an open forum for the discussion of the theory and practice of traditional architecture; It is affiliated with the Certificate in Classical Architecture at the University of Miami School of Architecture. Please direct enquiries to the listowner, Dr Richard John ([log in to unmask]). To join (or leave) the listserv, or to browse its archives, visit www.tradarch.net.Roy, I looked deeper and the Mackintosh's archives are probably destroyed. We can only hope that some or all were digitized at some point, but that's doubtful unless there was enough money at some point to do so. In libraries and archives that is almost never unless a benefactor comes along and writes the check.
I looked at images of the beautiful art nouveau library, hoping that the books were shelved very tightly, but it looks like they were not, which means 100% destroyed. If books are tightly shelved, often they can be salvaged because there is no room for the fire to engulf the volumes, just the bindings. When University of Georgia Main Library had an arson fire in 2003, most of the books only needed cleaning and a few needed rebinding, if they were shelved tight. Of course, UGA has metal shelving, concrete walls and subflooring, and Mackintosh has/had mahogany shelves and paneling, and wood floors.
Oddly, I sent this out to the ARLIS (Art Librarians Society of North America) listserv about 11 am. No one knew about it until it was posted, but there were many who replied about the tremendous loss of the building and the library.
I'm afraid that the Mackintosh Library likely will not be salvaged. That is just heartbreaking on so many levels.
Lucy Minogue Rowland, MS, MLS
Professor Emerita
Director, Louis T. Griffith Library
Georgia Museum of Art
90 Carlton Street
Athens, GA 30602
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From: Traditional Architecture Listserv List <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Roy Lewis <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, May 23, 2014 4:45 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Glasgow School of Art is on Fire
On May 23, 2014, at 8:25 AM, Niall Murphy <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
* * * * * * * The Tradarch List is an open forum for the discussion of the theory and practice of traditional architecture; It is affiliated with the Certificate in Classical Architecture at the University of Miami School of Architecture. Please direct enquiries to the listowner, Dr Richard John ([log in to unmask]). To join (or leave) the listserv, or to browse its archives, visit www.tradarch.net.And it looks bad:
An eyewitness said the fire appeared to have started in the basement of the Charles Rennie Mackintosh building in Renfrew Street just before 12:30.Smoke is billowing from the main windows, which are cracking, and through the attic studios
That means it has spread up circa 6 floors.
Not good news and on the day that Holl's new building opposite has just picked up a prestigious award.
* * * * * * * The Tradarch List is an open forum for the discussion of the theory and practice of traditional architecture; It is affiliated with the Certificate in Classical Architecture at the University of Miami School of Architecture. Please direct enquiries to the listowner, Dr Richard John ([log in to unmask]). To join (or leave) the listserv, or to browse its archives, visit www.tradarch.net.
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