By Jennifer Constable

On the morning of Saturday, June 16, Glasgow awoke to sombre news and a sky streaked with the remnants of ash and the acidic aroma of smoke and burning plastic. which, unbeknown to us, would manage to cling to our clothes and hair for a week after.

I am, of course, referring to the morning after fire tore through .

For those of us who had been following events the night before on our social media feeds, we had seen videos and pictures of the huge blaze that destroyed Mackintosh’s historic Glasgow School of Art. Screeds of messages appeared on our screens in a collective outpouring of grief.

But it wasn’t until the morning after, when walking to work, I realised the impact on the city. The atmosphere at 8am on Sauchiehall Street was heavy with grief; a sombre stillness, akin, in gravity, to the weighted hush after the Brexit vote.

Police officers quietly ushered early-morning tourists away from taped-off streets. Small crowds began to congregate on street corners. Some took photos of the derelict scenes before them and others merely stood in respectful remorse, heads shaking in numb disbelief.

High above the rooftops, a plume of black smoke trailed into the air like a funeral pyre.

It is easy, at first glance, to appreciate the devastating loss the blaze that ravaged through the art school incurred; the brutal removal of an important Glasgow institution and the irreversible damage to years’ worth of renovation efforts since fire first struck in 2014. However, it was the reactions of those around me; of dumbstruck passers-by and the eulogies of bereft alumni alike, that stuck me most.

I began to wonder, what was it about these iconic buildings, that made us care so deeply about them?

In addition to its capacity as a Glasgow landmark and university facility, the school of art was more than just a building.

It served, for many, as the background to the foremost years of their adult lives; a place where individuality and expression was encouraged, and unique characters formed. Art school alumnus of architecture, Matt McCallum, who graduated on the day of the fire, shared his sadness of the loss of his university building, saying: “The importance of many of our historic buildings is based in more than just aesthetic. If the Mack is to be rebuilt anywhere but Garnethill, and as anything but a functioning art school, the magic is lost.

“The merit in this building is not only its craftwork or acute detailing but, in its ability, to inspire, provide, and nurture.”

When we consider the history of the Glasgow School of Art, many know the bare bones of the profile of its creator, Charles Rennie Mackintosh – the talented Glasgow-born Art Nouveau architect and designer whose avant-garde work reshaped the design world of the early 1900s. Less is known about the artist’s personal life with his present-day fame eclipsing a turbulent past marred with an unstable career, coupled with countless rejections and reports of a suspected drinking problem.

Mackintosh’s work was largely unappreciated during his lifetime, and he died in poverty in 1928, unaware of the legacy he would leave behind. Speaking on Mackintosh’s influence, Glasgow writer and editor of Honest Error (2017), an anthology of poetry inspired by the artist’s work, Gillean McDougall reflects: “I saw the broken Art School after the first fire in 2014; water flooding like tears down Scott Street, Glasgow people gathering in palpable, silent shock. “The 22 poets who subsequently contributed to my Honest Error anthology dug deep into the background of Mackintosh’s work, his and Margaret’s (his wife’s) experience, and a creative life which blossomed then withered to changing public taste.

“Their story – its poignancy, wit and ultimate genius – will continue to inspire generations, nothing can ever destroy that.”

Heralded as his greatest masterpiece, the Mackintosh building epitomises the tireless efforts of an artist whose work was a labour of love in its most organic form, in spite of his many critics.

It represents the unique beauty and charm of the very best of Glasgow, a city whose tempestuous history could be said to reflect that of Mackintosh himself. We could spend hours lamenting the economic and cultural loss that the Mackintosh fire has brought to Glasgow but it’s behind the bricks and mortar where we see just why the building’s destruction has broken hearts of people across the world. A home and sanctuary to generations of artists through the years, the Glasgow School of Art will exist indefinitely in the memories of its students, staff and the Glasgow community, not only as a world-renowned school of art, but as a symbol for hope, individuality, and the legacy of one man’s attempt to make his mark on a world that didn’t fully understand him.