Another Scottish innovator, Glasgow's celebrated architect, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, will also be receiving his due this Homecoming year, especially since what many consider his masterpiece, the Glasgow School of Art, is marking its one-hundredth anniversary.
In 1901, Mackintosh entered a German design magazine competition for "a grand house in a thoroughly modern style, where one can be lavishly entertained." He called his entry House for an Art Lover and, although it arrived too late to win officially, he did receive a special prize.
For most of the twentieth century, Mackintosh's design remained no more than a much-admired portfolio of drawings, but thanks to the efforts of various devotees of his work, in 1989, ground was broken in Glasgow's Bellahouston Park and in 1996, the fully realized House for Art Lover opened and quickly became one of the city's top attractions and also venues, with capacity for groups of up to 200.
In September 2008, House for an Art Lover won Best Small Unusual Venue at the inaugural Scottish Event Awards. It was cited for its stunning location, quality product, and excellent customer service.
"In March 2008, we needed to find a venue where the Hungarian Ambassador could host a lunch and meeting to bring together members of the Scottish business and cultural and arts communities to cross-fertilize ideas for the upcoming Festival of Hungarian Art and Culture in Scotland (H'Art in Scotland) that autumn," says Ian Traill, founder and chief executive of the Glasgow-based Eurotactics Consultancy, which facilitates business-to-business, trade, and investment links with the 12 newest member states of the European Union.
"I had taken the ambassador for an al-fresco lunch and tour of House for an Art Lover on an earlier visit to Glasgow and she was so captivated on that occasion, choosing it for the bigger event was almost a 'no-brainer'!
"The staff came up trumps with a superb lunch served with discreet efficiency in the spectacular Music Room. The group then moved on to a meeting in the panelled Dining Room, which provided the perfect ambience for their discussions," Traill says.
Hungarian Ambassador Borbala Czako concurs: "House for an Art Lover proved to be an excellent location to initiate and plan the H'ART in Scotland festival. The Music Room was inspirational as it evoked the Art Nouveau period common to both Hungary and Scotland in the early twentieth century. The food and service were exemplary and our discussions flowed to reach an exciting and collaborative conclusion."