by Fiona Holland
A luxury yacht builder has used an image of Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s The Hill House as you’ve never seen it before.
Based in both Australia and the United States, Palm Beach Motor Yachts has promoted its boats in marketing material using an amalgamation image by US photographer Robert Glover of one of Scotland’s best known buildings,
It took the hill-top mansion in Helensburgh to a coastal scene, with one of the company’s high-end yachts in the foreground.
A spokesperson for the National Trust for Scotland, which owns the Hill House, said: “This is certainly a creative use of the building.
“We’d like to reassure any Mackintosh fans and the local community, that the building has not moved location. It is still standing proudly in Helensburgh, protected by its chainmail box to protect it from the ravages of the west coast weather.
“It’s closed at the moment because of coronavirus restrictions, but we look forward to welcoming visitors again, once it is safe to do so.”
The Hill House was designed and built from 1902-1904 for publisher Walter Blackie -Rennie Mackintosh spent time observing the Blackie family and how they lived, in order that their every day lives could lead the design.
As a result of the devastating fires which ravaged the fabric of Rennie Mackintosh’s Glasgow School of Art, the A-Listed house overlooking the River Clyde in Helensburgh, is now arguably his finest remaining original work.
It is currently ‘packaged’ in a state-of-the-art chainmail structure, known as The Box, to allow urgent work on its exterior to be carried out
It has also become an attraction in itself, with elevated walkways allowing visitors to enjoy close quarters views of the top of the building – normally only visible to those doing maintenance on the building’s exterior.
Palm Beach Motor Yachts did not wish to comment further and photographer Robert Glover did not respond to a request for comment.
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