The former Martyrs’ School building in Glasgow’s Townhead

One of the earliest buildings attributed to Charles Rennie Mackintosh is to be sold for use as a museum, The Herald can exclusively reveal.

The Martyrs’ School in Glasgow’s Townhead is to be sold by Glasgow City Council to the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland to be used as a public museum of Scottish Catholic archives, housing artworks and artefacts.

The sale is due to be approved by the council’s Contracts & Property committee next week.

The Herald understands that the category A-listed building will be sensitively refurbished through a £1.75 million works programme, funded by the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland, who will pay £250,000 in the sale.

In addition to becoming a public museum, The Martyrs’ School will also feature office space – meaning the vacant heritage building will become fully occupied once more.

The three-storey former board school is located on Parson Street in Townhead, on the same street where Mackintosh was born in 1868.It was designed by Mackintosh for the School Board of Glasgow when he was an assistant at Honeyman and Keppie architectural firm.

Completed in 1898, The Martyrs’ School is one of a group of important buildings by Honeyman and Keppie dating from the mid 1890s – others are the Glasgow Herald buildings and Queen’s Cross Church – in which Mackintosh’s distinctive contribution to the work of the firm can first be clearly seen.

The design includes some unorthodox features, particularly the roof timbers, which suggest that Mackintosh took a leading role in the project.

The Martyrs’ School was given statutory protection as a listed building in December 1970. The threat of demolition in 1973–4, for a road scheme, galvanised opposition, not least from the newly-founded Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society, a pressure group established to raise awareness of the Mackintosh legacy and campaign for its preservation.

After closing as a school in 1973, it has since served as a museum, offices for staff displaced during the restoration of Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum, and, latterly, the home of Glasgow City Council’s Social Work Leaving Care Services.

In June last year it was declared surplus by the council, who said it could find no use for the building. A marketing exercise for the disposal of the building was then carried out between October 2024 and March 2025.

The Herald understands that three bids for The Martyrs’ School met the necessary criteria, with the other two bids being for commercial letting of workshop space with some public exhibition space.
The Bishops’ Conference of Scotland also owns property on the opposite side of Parson Street – St Mungo’s Church and retreat.

Commenting on the news, Stuart Robertson, director of the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society, told The Herald: “On paper this sale looks a good fit for Martyrs’ School and being used as a Public Museum of Scottish Catholic archive, housing artworks and artefacts, there might be an opportunity for some public access to the building. I am delighted to see that it will be sensitively refurbished through a £1.75million works programme, funded by the purchaser. It would be good to see more details of this and the planned timescale.”

Niall Murphy, director of Glasgow City Heritage Trust, told The Herald: “This is a good outcome for Glasgow’s heritage. A key Charles Rennie Mackintosh building is getting a sustainable new use with a new owner who is going to invest in the historic building fabric and ensure public access. The museum use strengthens the node of museums around Glasgow Cathedral so will help attract visitors. It all sounds like a win to me.”

In February, the council revealed that negotiations were set to begin over the use of another Mackintosh building – the Lighthouse – as a location to help climate tech firms grow after a committee gave the green light to the proposal.

The council said it was to begin talks with Sustainable Ventures (Scotland) Limited on a long-term lease for the 88% (5,424 sq ft) of the floorspace in the building that the council owns
Sustainable Ventures (Scotland) Limited have 130 climate tech startups co-located at their HQ workspace in London, and support over 700 climate tech SMEs across the UK.

The Lighthouse – which was home to The Herald for 112 years – is one of Mackintosh’s most celebrated architectural gems, and was formerly Scotland’s centre for architecture, design and the city.

However, it closed temporarily at the start of the pandemic and never fully reopened. A council review of the use of the building failed to find a long-term, sustainable use of the building for council purposes.
Speaking at the time, Councillor Ruairi Kelly, Convener for Built Heritage and Development at Glasgow City Council, said: “I’m delighted that negotiations on bringing the Lighthouse back to full life have been given the go-ahead. This is a Charles Rennie Mackintosh classic which has been seeking a new purpose over a number of years. Plans to use this architectural gem to provide space for hi-tech start-ups is exactly the type of project which can revitalise this great building.”

Exclusive by Craig Williams  Reporter, The Herald

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/25218127.mackintosh-building-sold-council-use-museum/