EDINBURGH.- In the year of the 150th anniversary of Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s birth, Lyon & Turnbull will present at auction on 31st October 2018 two rare armchairs designed by the iconic Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928) for Miss Cranston’s Argyle Street Tea Rooms in Glasgow.

The oak armchairs, valued at £30,000-£50,000 each, were designed for the men’s Billiards & Smoking Rooms, which occupied the building’s top two floors above the tea and luncheon rooms. They will be offered by Lyon & Turnbull in their Decorative Arts: Design since 1860 auction on the 31st October 2018 in Edinburgh.

The Argyle Street Tea Rooms closed in 1920, and much of the furniture was dispersed. These armchairs came into the possession of established Glasgow restauranteur William Smith, whose daughter passed them onto the current owner as a gift. John Mackie, Director and Specialist at Lyon & Turnbull said; “The robust construction of these chairs has helped them withstand many years of use, however it is their beautiful and functional design, anticipating 20th century Modernist ethos, which has stood the test of time.”

The work at Argyle Street followed on from Mackintosh’s previous work at Miss Cranston’s new Buchanan Street Tea Rooms, which had been conceived two years earlier in 1896, together with designer George Walton. In this new undertaking Mackintosh found himself in a role reversal, being fully in charge of the furnishings whilst Walton worked on designing the interiors.

Catherine Cranston was to be an important patron for the young Mackintosh, who came to rely on a relatively small number of patrons throughout his career. John Mackie continued; “The commission afforded Mackintosh a new freedom to experiment, whilst leading to further projects, including the Ingram Street Tea Rooms in 1900 and the Willow Tea Rooms in 1903.”

Catherine Cranston made her mark for her series of tearooms across the city. Her tearooms made a cultural impact during her life due to offering venues where women could enter unchaperoned. Following her death in 1934, her fortune was left to support the poor and the homeless in the city.