A FIREPLACE designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh in the Willow Tea Rooms in Glasgow is once again on display after being hidden away for 20 years.
The fireplace on the ground floor of the premises in Sauchiehall Street is one of four in the A-listed building designed by the artist. It was covered up by the ground floor's previous occupants, Henderson jewellers two decades ago.
"There was an outcry about it," Anne Mulhern, manager of the tea rooms since 1983, recalled yesterday. "I don't know why they ever did it."
The jewellers built a false wall and turned the area around the fireplace into a storeroom. But since Henderson went out of business the tea room has taken over the ground floor and is now beginning to reveal some of the building's original features.
Ms Mulhern said: "I took over downstairs this time last year and we've opened up a shop downstairs and we've started peeling things back."
After uncovering a staircase, she wondered if she could expose the mirrored fireplace. "Two weeks ago we started taking the boarding down around the fireplace and put a floor down. It's amazing. There are four fireplaces in the building but this is the finest. It's absolutely beautiful."
With the upcoming Commonwealth Games in the city as well as such events as Homecoming and the Ryder Cup, Ms Mulhern hopes the fireplace will provide another attraction to entice visitors to the tea rooms. "We've got so many bookings for the next few months. It's such an important building."
The Willow Tea Rooms were opened in 1904 by Mackintosh's most famous patron Kate Cranston. It was the only tea room he had complete control over the design. The artist was responsible for everything from the exterior to the cutlery and the uniforms of the staff.
It remains a hugely popular tourist attraction in the city but there are question marks over its future.
After Henderson jewellers went out of business it was threatened with closure last year before a new lease ensured it could continue until September this year. But the building remains for sale so the future beyond September remains uncertain.
It also requires substantial renovation and repairs - estimated last year to be in the region of £450,000.
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