Other places · Central Scotland
Willow Tearooms
The Willow Tearooms are tearooms at 217 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, Scotland, designed by internationally renowned architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh, which opened for business in October 1903. They
Christopher Hilton — CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons licence
Plan your visit
- Typical visit
- 1 h–2 h
About
The Willow Tearooms are tearooms at 217 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, Scotland, designed by internationally renowned architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh, which opened for business in October 1903. They quickly gained enormous popularity, and are the most famous of the many Glasgow tearooms that opened in the late 19th and early 20th century. The building was fully restored, largely to Mackintosh's original designs, between 2014 and 2018. It re-opened as working tearooms in July 2018 and traded under the name "Mackintosh at The Willow" until February 2026 when it was renamed again to "The Mackintosh Tearooms". The name was changed following a 2017 trademark dispute with the former operator of 'The Willow Tearooms'. That name brand is now used at tearoom premises in Buchanan Street, Glasgow and, since 2024 at a venue in Princes St, Edinburgh. The name was additionally used at the Watt Brothers Department Store in Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow between 2016 and its closure in 2019. The Tearooms at 217 Sauchiehall Street first opened in 1903 and are the only surviving tearooms designed by Mackintosh for local entrepreneur and patron Miss Catherine Cranston. Over the years and through various changes of ownership and use, the building had deteriorated until it was purchased in 2014 by The Willow Tea Rooms Trust in order to prevent the forced sale of the building, closure of the Tearooms and loss of its contents to collectors. The Tearooms are now owned by the National Trust for…
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From the Wikipedia article
The Willow Tearooms are tearooms at 217 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, Scotland, designed by internationally renowned architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh, which opened for business in October 1903. They quickly gained enormous popularity, and are the most famous of the many Glasgow tearooms that opened in the late 19th and early 20th century. The building was fully restored, largely to Mackintosh's original designs, between 2014 and 2018. It re-opened as working tearooms in July 2018 and traded under the name "Mackintosh at The Willow" until February 2026 when it was renamed again to "The Mackintosh Tearooms". The name was changed following a 2017 trademark dispute with the former operator of 'The Willow Tearooms'. That name brand is now used at tearoom premises in Buchanan Street, Glasgow and, since 2024 at a venue in Princes St, Edinburgh. The name was additionally used at the Watt Brothers Department Store in Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow between 2016 and its closure in 2019. The Tearooms at 217 Sauchiehall Street first opened in 1903 and are the only surviving tearooms designed by Mackintosh for local entrepreneur and patron Miss Catherine Cranston. Over the years and through various changes of ownership and use, the building had deteriorated until it was purchased in 2014 by The Willow Tea Rooms Trust in order to prevent the forced sale of the building, closure of the Tearooms and loss of its contents to collectors. The Tearooms are now owned by the National Trust for Scotland.
Excerpt from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0. See the source article linked in Sources below.
Background
History
Early in his career, in 1896, Mackintosh met Catherine Cranston (widely known as Kate Cranston or simply Miss Cranston), an entrepreneurial local businesswoman who was the daughter of a Glasgow tea merchant and a strong believer in temperance. The temperance movement was becoming increasingly popular in Glasgow at the turn of the century and Miss Cranston had conceived the idea of a series of "art tearooms", venues where people could meet to relax and enjoy non-alcoholic refreshments in a variety of different "rooms" within the same building. This proved to be the start of a long working relationship between Miss Cranston and Mackintosh. Between 1896 and 1917, he designed and re-styled…
Description
Mackintosh was engaged to design the wall murals of Miss Cranston's new Buchanan Street tearooms in 1896. The tearooms had been designed and built by George Washington Browne of Edinburgh, with interiors and furnishings being designed by George Walton. Mackintosh designed stencilled friezes depicting opposing pairs of elongated female figures surrounded by roses for the ladies' tearoom, the luncheon room and the smokers' gallery. In 1898, his next commission for the existing Argyle Street tearooms saw the design roles reversed, with Mackintosh designing the furniture and interiors, and Walton designing the wall murals. This was to see the first appearance of Mackintosh's trademark…
Sourced from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Coordinates
- 55.8650, -4.2612
- District
- Glasgow City
- Postcode
- G2 3DU
- Parliamentary constituency
- Glasgow North
- Established
- 1903
- Official site
- www.mackintoshatthewillow.com
Sources
- wikipedia: Willow Tearooms (CC BY-SA 4.0)
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Frequently asked questions
- Where is Willow Tearooms?
- Willow Tearooms is in central Scotland, United Kingdom (postcode G2 3DU).
- When was Willow Tearooms built?
- Built or established in 1903.
- Who owns Willow Tearooms?
- Willow Tearooms is owned by National Trust for Scotland.
- How do I get to Willow Tearooms?
- Drivers can navigate to postcode G2 3DU. It sits within the Glasgow North parliamentary constituency.