The Dunvegan Sideboard (Image: Getty)
It was no doubt adorned with finest quality items when it was the home of one of Scotland’s most famous furniture makers.
Now, as the landmark former home of Alexander Henry McIntosh, currently the Victoria Hotel, is brought to market for sale, restorer and retailer After Noah recalled some of the style highlights around the Fife furniture giant.
It says AH McIntosh of Kirkcaldy was one of the most prominent makers along with G Plan of High Wycombe of British contemporary dining furniture in the 1960s and 1970s, “producing fine examples of mid-century modern furniture using traditional making processes that employed highly skilled cabinet makers”.
- The company was founded in 1869 by AH McIntosh, who died in 1919 aged 84, and its wares were exhibited at the World Fair in Paris in 1878, and the Sydney Exhibition in 1879.
- Like many firms during World War One, McIntosh contributed to the war effort by manufacturing airplane wings and other parts.
- By the early 1960s, McIntosh began to move away from producing more traditional style dining and bedroom furniture towards making mid-century style furniture described as akin to the Danish modern style.
- The move was led by McIntosh design director Tom Robertson and Val Rossi. It was around this time that McIntosh stopped making bedroom furniture in order to focus production on its more popular dining room tables, chairs and sideboards, like famous Dunvegan Sideboard.
- By the 2000s the company moved into the education industry, producing a wide range of school furniture under the name ESA McIntosh. It was taken over by Havelock which was acquired by Deanestor.
- It was also reported in Fife Today that in September 1977 the then Labour Prime Minister James Callaghan paid a visit to Kirkcaldy to see the factory.
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