Tinseltown in the Rain?

I met up with fellow arts journo, Pauline McLean, for a coffee and catch-up today at The Lighthouse, in Glasgow.

The building, a lively hub of design and architecture, just off Glasgow's main shopping thoroughfare, Buchanan Street, used to house the Glasgow Herald, as the newspaper I now contribute to regularly was formerly known. (Still is by diehard readers to be honest...)

Charles Rennie Mackintosh was a young draughtsman in the architectural practice of Honeyman and Keppie when he designed the Mitchell Street building.

It was Charles Rennie Mackintosh's first public commission. Pauline was telling me about the media visit yesterday to the new building which is emerging opposite Mackintosh's masterpiece, Glasgow School of Art.

See more in today's Herald (appropriately):

Art School Architect Homage to Mackintosh

The building, designed in 1895, was a warehouse at the back of the printing office of the Glasgow Herald. Mackintosh designed the tower, a prominent feature of the building, to contain an 8,000-gallon water tank. It was to protect the building and all its contents from the risk of fire.

The Herald moved to nearby Albion Street in the early 80s. I did the odd shift there for The Evening Times and The Herald before it moved to its current base in Cowcaddens.

After 15 years of standing empty and neglected, the building was renovated and launched as The Lighthouse in 1999 during Glasgow's reign as UK City of Architecture and Design.

I took this Tinseltown in the Rain type pic of The Lighthouse's new signage when I came out onto Buchanan Street.