Four years ago, I was sitting having lunch on Blythswood Square in Glasgow and checking Twitter I saw news of a fire at the Glasgow School of Art, barely 5 blocks from where I was sitting. As someone who had gone to school next to it in the 70s, I kent it well and loved it. Back in the 70s, it hadn't quite been realised what a jewel we had. People did travel miles to see it though and it was through many Japanese tourists taking pictures of it that highlighted that this must be something of importance. My art teacher was an alumnus, and while he might have despaired of my distinct lack of ability in art, was a kind man who took some of those interested in the building on little unofficial tours. His obvious love for the building seeped into my being.
Later when I was at university in the city, it was a sister campus and a great place for gigs and parties. So much time was spent there, seeing Orange Juice, and a young Peter Capaldi in The Dreamboys. The appearance of the building in the drama Tutti Frutti with the famous hen run featuring, starring Robbie Coltrane and written by John Byrne, both alumni, seemed to both show it's growing fame, and embed it further into the heart of Glasgow.
As I moved away from the city, Macintosh's reputation grew so that from someone barely known in the 60s he became a symbol of the city. The School of Art building became a major draw, and a small industry from tea towels to models of the building grew.
On returning to Glasgow, the reputation of the institution itself grew with the building with Turner prize winners having attended it happening with almost tedious regularity. When guests come to stay, the tours would be a go to staple of entertaining them, leaving them always stunned at both the beauty in the building and the obvious love the students and Glaswegians had for it.
Through the four years since the fire there has been an ongoing and hugely successful fund raising programme run by a much loved friend. In recent months, we got to see the progress in the restoration with the iconic parts of the building reappearing. The magnificent library, the centrepiece of the building, emerging reborn almost impossible to believe.
And now, all that looks gone as a second blaze much worse than its predecessor has gutted it. This time sitting at home, suffering from about of insomnia, having been woken by more sirens than usual, I saw again, alerted by social media, that the building was in flames. And this time it looked much worse! Indeed it spread to other buildings including the ABC music venue, which are in previous guises had been a cinema, and where the first films were shown in Glasgow in its guise of Hengler's Circus. It had been an ice rink and a place where the arena could be flooded for mock ship battles. Its original wooden roof now appears to have gone.
Already the reaction this time has a different edge to it. Glasgow has lost many buildings to fire in dubious circumstance, and some see some connection there to some insurance job. Others think the Scottish govt may have penny punched in their support of restoration. More generally there is an idea that losing one School of Art to fire is misfortune but to lose two...
For me, it's too early for such blame. As I read the social media and watched the pictures on the news, I cried at the destruction of something deep within me. I cried for the work of so many excellent people, including my friend and his lovely colleagues with whom I have parties into early mornings, being wiped out. I cried for my fellow Glaswegians waking up to the news which in turn cause tears from them.
I love my native city in a far from simple way. Fire is intertwined in its history with many serious and life taking fires. The firemen through the last couple of centuries have had many colleagues die, and hence the name they haven't given to it of Tinderbox City. It would appear that no one has been hurt this time which is a blessing, but the darker side of Glasgow will be nodding at one more significant victim.
