Ryan,
I worked in the DC area the Summer of 1981. I know that
doesn't count now. Lived in a house-share on 13th St. just
south of Q. Still remember hearing the clicking of hookers'
highheels pacing up and down the sidewalk while trying to
sleep at night. Each day drove down to Gunston Hall,
Virginia, colonial home of George Mason who wrote the
Virginia Declaration of Rights which in turn became the US
Constitution Bill of Rights. The house was being surveyed
and measured top to bottom for HABS--drawings now at the
Library of Congress. Hardly an exciting place, but valuable
Paul Revere silver pieces were stolen from the Dining Room
(--completely documenting that room was one of my
assignments) one weekend (luckily I was then at the Jersey
shore). Plus it was surmised by the end of the summer that
all the tour guides were practicing witches--Colonial Dames
through and through, you know.
I drove home (to my just inherited house) back in
Philadelphia every weekend, so the only time I got to know
DC was during the week in the evenings. All the museums on
the Mall were open till nine pm then, so I many times
visited all of them. I used to know the National Gallery by
heart, but not anymore. Masolino's ANNUNCIATION inspired
chronosomatics, however. Toward the end of the summer I
discovered the Library of Congress remained open till 10 pm,
so I went there a lot too. All the public manifestations of
our federal government nicely impressed me back then.
One night while Ron Evitts was visiting I drove him around
to the east parking lot of the Capitol. The building looks
magnificent at night from there, and you could literally
drive right up to the steps. Ron wanted a better view so he
stuck his whole torso out the car window. Then a guard
angrily yelled, "Get back in the car!"
During August, our HABS team captain and his girlfriend were
house-sitting Wolf von Egert's place just off Dupont Circle.
Both Wolf and his girlfriend, (the) Miss Manners, lived
there, so it was fun getting an up-close and personal tour
of that.
I have fun and youthful memories of DC, but I've returned
there only trice in 23 years.
Steve
ps
Imagine this, one architecture student and one recent
architecture grad belting out tunes from the ROCKY HORROR
PICTURE SHOW behind the closed doors of George Mason's
study, exactly where the eventual US Bill of Rights were
first written. "There's a light! Over at the Frankenstein
place..." etc.
--
The Design-L list for art and architecture, since 1992...
To subscribe, send mailto:design-l-subscribe-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.
To signoff, send mailto:design-l-unsubscribe-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.
Visit archives: http://lists.psu.edu/archives/design-l.html
I worked in the DC area the Summer of 1981. I know that
doesn't count now. Lived in a house-share on 13th St. just
south of Q. Still remember hearing the clicking of hookers'
highheels pacing up and down the sidewalk while trying to
sleep at night. Each day drove down to Gunston Hall,
Virginia, colonial home of George Mason who wrote the
Virginia Declaration of Rights which in turn became the US
Constitution Bill of Rights. The house was being surveyed
and measured top to bottom for HABS--drawings now at the
Library of Congress. Hardly an exciting place, but valuable
Paul Revere silver pieces were stolen from the Dining Room
(--completely documenting that room was one of my
assignments) one weekend (luckily I was then at the Jersey
shore). Plus it was surmised by the end of the summer that
all the tour guides were practicing witches--Colonial Dames
through and through, you know.
I drove home (to my just inherited house) back in
Philadelphia every weekend, so the only time I got to know
DC was during the week in the evenings. All the museums on
the Mall were open till nine pm then, so I many times
visited all of them. I used to know the National Gallery by
heart, but not anymore. Masolino's ANNUNCIATION inspired
chronosomatics, however. Toward the end of the summer I
discovered the Library of Congress remained open till 10 pm,
so I went there a lot too. All the public manifestations of
our federal government nicely impressed me back then.
One night while Ron Evitts was visiting I drove him around
to the east parking lot of the Capitol. The building looks
magnificent at night from there, and you could literally
drive right up to the steps. Ron wanted a better view so he
stuck his whole torso out the car window. Then a guard
angrily yelled, "Get back in the car!"
During August, our HABS team captain and his girlfriend were
house-sitting Wolf von Egert's place just off Dupont Circle.
Both Wolf and his girlfriend, (the) Miss Manners, lived
there, so it was fun getting an up-close and personal tour
of that.
I have fun and youthful memories of DC, but I've returned
there only trice in 23 years.
Steve
ps
Imagine this, one architecture student and one recent
architecture grad belting out tunes from the ROCKY HORROR
PICTURE SHOW behind the closed doors of George Mason's
study, exactly where the eventual US Bill of Rights were
first written. "There's a light! Over at the Frankenstein
place..." etc.
--
The Design-L list for art and architecture, since 1992...
To subscribe, send mailto:design-l-subscribe-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.
To signoff, send mailto:design-l-unsubscribe-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.
Visit archives: http://lists.psu.edu/archives/design-l.html