I've added the scan of the historical West Wing from Life (who reprinted it from Time), as well as a couple of other photos from the issue. There was even this photo of the Joseph P Kennedy family.
Pete, I noticed that it was slow loading too. Mine wasn't guite that slow, but slow enough.
I was looking especially at the really cool "Roosevelt & Company" plan and noticed that the "Fish Room" - today's Roosevelt Room - ("little wigs wait here...") isn't finished out with the apse (the semi-circular end of the room) and the fire place that I'm sure Eric Gugler designed in 1934 - and which in fact is shown correctly in the plan immediately above it, also dated 1934. Maybe there were too many Little Wigs waiting in the room that day for the Life Magazine people to get a good look at it!
The Time/Life plan was probably not drawn by an architect but by a graphic artist, so it's probably inaccurate. The one above it is based mostly on the Winslow plan of 1945.
I'm sure you're right - that ball is in "Life"'s court. But since the rest of the "Roosevelt & Co." plan is seemingly accurate down to the last door, one possibility (having worked myself in the production department of a large department store chain's advertising department) is that the graphic artist was working like a crazy man against a deadline and the production manager (watching the clock...) snatched it from under his pen and ran doubletime with the "artwork" down 5 flights of stairs to the engraving department, with seconds to spare, to have a plate made (or however they did it at "Life" in those days)and the artist just had to make it look as good as he could before it was wrested away from his talented hands, because the artist just wanted to go over it "one more time..."
Not that I've ever done that to an artist, mind you... : ) I just have a gut feeling that something like that happened here.
Yeah, looking at the west windows of the WW it appears as though some windows are wider than others. With all of my study and looking at models as far as I know the windows are all the same width just spaced apart differently. Note also to the south facing the courtyard, the "indentations" in the walls are not present like they are to the north.
Wonderful Derek! Thanks for the high res version. Site is slow though. Took 4 mins to download 900k.
ReplyDeletePete, I noticed that it was slow loading too. Mine wasn't guite that slow, but slow enough.
ReplyDeleteI was looking especially at the really cool "Roosevelt & Company" plan and noticed that the "Fish Room" - today's Roosevelt Room - ("little wigs wait here...") isn't finished out with the apse (the semi-circular end of the room) and the fire place that I'm sure Eric Gugler designed in 1934 - and which in fact is shown correctly in the plan immediately above it, also dated 1934. Maybe there were too many Little Wigs waiting in the room that day for the Life Magazine people to get a good look at it!
The Time/Life plan was probably not drawn by an architect but by a graphic artist, so it's probably inaccurate. The one above it is based mostly on the Winslow plan of 1945.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you're right - that ball is in "Life"'s court. But since the rest of the "Roosevelt & Co." plan is seemingly accurate down to the last door, one possibility (having worked myself in the production department of a large department store chain's advertising department) is that the graphic artist was working like a crazy man against a deadline and the production manager (watching the clock...) snatched it from under his pen and ran doubletime with the "artwork" down 5 flights of stairs to the engraving department, with seconds to spare, to have a plate made (or however they did it at "Life" in those days)and the artist just had to make it look as good as he could before it was wrested away from his talented hands, because the artist just wanted to go over it "one more time..."
ReplyDeleteNot that I've ever done that to an artist, mind you... : ) I just have a gut feeling that something like that happened here.
Yeah, looking at the west windows of the WW it appears as though some windows are wider than others. With all of my study and looking at models as far as I know the windows are all the same width just spaced apart differently. Note also to the south facing the courtyard, the "indentations" in the walls are not present like they are to the north.
ReplyDelete