Funding boost for V&A Dundee’s Mackintosh tearoom restoration
V&A Dundee and Dundee City Council are now working with Glasgow Museums to preserve the room, used as a tearoom until the 1950s, for future generations.
A project to conserve and restore a complete interior by Charles Rennie Mackintosh and put it on display at the new V&A Dundee after almost 50 years has received a funding boost.
Glasgow Museums rescued the tearoom, known as the Oak Room, from destruction in 1971 and took the disassembled interior into the city council's collection.
V&A Dundee and Dundee City Council are now working with Glasgow Museums to preserve the room, used as a tearoom until the 1950s, for future generations.
V&A Dundee said it has now received £200,000 from the Art Fund and £100,000 from the Scottish Government towards the £1.3 million project. It follows an initial grant of £400,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Philip Long, director of V&A Dundee, said: "The project to conserve and restore an entire interior by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, unseen for nearly 50 years, has been one of the most exciting parts of creating V&A Dundee.
"As a designer, architect and artist, Mackintosh is of worldwide significance. He has been an inspiration to very many designers from the moment his work was first seen through to today, including the architect of V&A Dundee, Kengo Kuma."
Mackintosh designed the interior for his most important patron, Miss Cranston, for her famous Ingram Street tearooms in Glasgow. It consists of hundreds of individual wooden and stained-glass parts.
V&A Dundee opens on September 15 this year, and the Oak Room will be displayed at the heart of its Scottish Design Galleries