‘Art for Arts Sake’

 

‘Art for Arts Sake’ was the motto of Glasgow architect William Gardner Rowan, who designed Shettleston New Parish Church.

 

Rowan’s inspiration was medieval Gothic architecture and, after years of what he called ‘shoddy’ tenement work, he began to focus on designing churches.

 

At the time the arts and crafts movement was at its height, which celebrated traditional craftsmanship
as a reaction to mass produced goods.  Glasgow was at the heart of the movement, with highly influential figures such as Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

 

Rowan’s early training as an engineer had developed his skills at producing detailed drawings, which he later put to good use in designing buildings.

 

He would spend lots of time on the finer decoration
of a church, sometimes pushing the patience of the client and tradesmen.   But this attention to detail was his trademark, and his obituary noted that:

 

“For a bit of carving…he would cheerfully give time and trouble, while ordinary painter work became decoration by his labouring over quaint lettering or ornamental device that cost little but effected much”.

 

Rowan designed over 40 churches through his much respected career, but felt it had brought him ‘neither poverty nor riches’.

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The extract below, from church records in 1902,
shows Rowan as the choice of architect to design
the new church.