Taking Tea with Mackintosh: The Story of Miss Cranston's Tea Rooms

by Perilla Kinchin, Charles Rennie Mackintosh (Designer), Margaret Mackintosh (Designer)

In 1896, Kate Cranston, the pioneer of Glasgow tea rooms in the late nineteenth century, commissioned Charles Rennie Mackintosh—who would become one of the Western worlds’ most renowned designers—to design her tea rooms, and over the next two decades he did so with dazzling inventiveness. (Mackintosh’s wife, Margaret, herself an artist, also made important contributions to the interior designs.) Cranston and Mackintosh opened up a unique, avant-garde artistic world to thousands of ordinary people and their tea rooms became internationally famous. Taking Tea with Mackintosh illustrates their exciting collaboration with black-and-white historical photographs of the tea rooms and color photographs of their surviving components. In addition, sixteen recipes for traditional tea room cakes, breads, and pastries are supplied, offering the best chance the reader will have to revisit these extraordinary places. By Perilla Kinchin. 112 pages, over 40 color reproductions and black-and-white historical photographs, size: 8 1/2 x 7 1/2". Casebound book, with dust jacket.

Genres: Nonfiction, Art, History, Tea

111 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1998

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very engaging little coffee table book. Filled with beautiful pictures of Rennie Mackintosh interiors, exteriors, furniture and art work. The prose casts the tale of the temperance and suffragette influenced tea-room culture of late 18th and early 19th century Glasgow and the movement's Grande Dame Ms. Cranston, who owned a chain of these rooms. An integral part of these rooms was the artistic character of the furnishings and decor -- all done in the "New Art" of the Glasgow school. Much of the work was done by Mackintosh and his wife Margaret McDonald. These rooms were clearly stunning examples of the cutting edge of the day.

The book ends with a selection of recipes for baked goods that were on the menu at the tea rooms. A surprising number of these were/are part of my Scottish mother's repertoire of delicacies, so I really enjoyed reading through them and tasting each one in my memory.

This book makes me greatly regret that the last time I was in Glasgow that I didn't manage to do any of the Mackintosh touristy things (the reconstructed willow tea room, the Mackintosh house at the Art Museum, etc etc. Next time I'm there I'm spending at least a day doing Mackintosh-abilia.

My friend Heidi coincidentally gave me a set of gift/recipe cards that have various Mackintosh and MacDonald murals on the front and recipes on the back, with blank interiors for notes. These are a beautiful accompaniment to the book, but are sold separately.

[reveurdart · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've pretty much always had a fascination with tea history and art tea rooms, so this was just down my alley. I found Kate Cranston incredibly inspiring and fascinating. If only one could have experienced one of her tea rooms in Glasgow during the 1890s and early 1900s! 😍

I would highly recommend it to art lovers interested in the Glasgow school art movement, and Art Nouveau in general. Besides the history of Miss Cranston's tea rooms, which takes up the bulk of the book, it also has recipes and a guide to places still in existence in Glasgow (at the time of the publication of the book).

[Jennifer]

Might revisit for the recipes at the end.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

The inclusion of recipes made me think this was going to be one of those tourist books you get with a few recipes, a few photos and a few dates. Actually it was a very interesting comprehensive history of the relationship between MacKintosh and Miss Cranston. Excellent selection of photos. There were also a few recipes which seemed unnecessary.

[BlueJeansAndTeacups · Rating 5 out of 5]

•°o•:*:•. Unique Historical Tea Book .•:*:• o°•

I honestly don’t even recall buying this book. I was digging around in a box this weekend, and came across it. I decided to settle in next to an open window, blowing a breeze into my home. I discovered a most interesting history in this book. It is a historical reference of particular people, who about 138 years ago affected my life today. Stuart Cranston opened the first tea room at 2 Queen Street, Glasgow. “He had established himself in the tea trade, in which Glasgow was a serious competitor to London at this period. With an instinct for selling to the public, he began his own retail business in 1871. Always keen to educate the palates of his customers (he was a passionate China tea man himself), he kept a kettle by him to offer samples of his blends. In 1875 he hit upon the simple idea of charging for this tasting. He provided tables for 16 customers ‘elbow to elbow’ at his shop and advertised a cup of China tea ‘with sugar and cream, for 2d [tuppence] – bread and cakes extra. Thus the tea room was born.”
His younger sister, Kate Cranston took off with this idea and opened several of her own unique tea rooms. She was an eccentric, full-of-life, lady who did not conform. She hired young designers and architects she felt had potential. This book goes into great detail about them, their style, and impact on the Glasgow community. One in particular was Charles Rennie Mackintosh. She was his primary patron for the majority of his career and while customers found his work odd, they also found it exhilarating and fascinating. One thing that was so interesting was the design that accommodated different guests. There were billiard rooms, luncheon rooms, smoking rooms, ladies rooms and the design and décor accommodated each room individually. This was something my husband and I actually had mused about doing at one time – creating a sports bar, with adjoining tea room – so both husbands and wives could have a place. Who knew it had basically been done! I found the book to be interesting, certainly, and it gave me pause to consider the wonderful history of the tea room. The architectural detail isn’t really my thing, but others may enjoy it. In the last 20 years, I have watched many tea rooms come and go in California, USA, and I have loved my time in (most of) them. Our economy has gone up and down, and finding that special staying power proves quite difficult for some. Miss Cranston seemed to have a great handle on it in her day, until such time as her beloved husband passed and she went into mourning; selling off her tea rooms and retiring. If you enjoy learning new and unusual things about tea and its history, I recommend this book.

5 out of 5 stars

Included: Recipes and A Tea-room Chronology of the book in the back

I purchased this book and am offering my honest opinion for no compensation.

August 12, 2013

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating look at a female entrepreneur, Kate Cranston, who pioneered the artful tearoom in Glasgow in the early 1900s and her go-to designer, Charles Rennie MacIntosh. These tea rooms would have been amazing. I'd like to learn more about Cranston - she sounds like a formidable woman. Also love that this book includes recipes for Scottish tea cakes, scones and cookies.