Soaring Splendor in D.C.

On Saturday I met with a group to have a custom tour of the Building Museum in DC, originally opened as the Pension Building in 1887. It used to distribute pensions to union soldiers from the Civil War. Nothing was given to confederate soldiers but eventually a donation funding scheme was set up for them.
Before meeting inside I stopped at my favorite monument in DC, the National Law Enforcement Memorial, which has 2 lions and 2 lionesses sitting on a wall bearing names of the fallen, looking down on lion cubs.

Lions are a symbol of guardianship so these proud creatures looking down on the innocent cubs represent the dead officers who once looked over the public.

Across the road was another wonderful sculpture, this time in honor of all fire dogs in the country who work alongside their firefighter comrades.

These sculptures are at each corner of the Building Museum, originally created as bollards to block access to F Street, but it was never closed so they were placed here instead. Each piece has 6 laborers symbolizing building trades holding up a plumb bob, an ancient tool used to find the true vertical.

The Building Museum was designed by Montgomery C. Meigs to be offices and a fireproof building for the Pension Bureau. It copies the design of Antonio da Sangallo's Palazzo Farnese in Rome on the outside and the lower levels. Built largely from red brick, over 15.5 million were used, and terracotta was used on ornamental facades.

The huge pillars inside are also brick, 70000 in each pillar, and then plaster was painted in a marble pattern. Because we were on a tour we were allowed up on the 4th level, not open to the public. The views were impressive.

Because Meigs had been ordered to produce the building as cheaply as possible, the Italian design was not carried up to the roof. This was constructed in a more cost effective industrial style, but the ornate carvings of the exterior can be seen through the windows.

These giant Corinthian columns are 75ft high with 8ft diameter terracotta bases and molded plaster capitals at the top. At this height they are among the tallest classical columns in the world. I felt very tiny standing next to them, but don't think I should really have been this far away from the group. I'd left the others to walk around the balcony and get closer to the columns, and was glad I quickly grabbed these shots because within a couple of minutes a security guard on the level below me motioned that I rejoin my group.

We were led back down to the second floor and it was apparent that the tour did not include the third floor so I quickly ran out on to that balcony to shoot this eagle head. I'd noticed from above that the balustrade on this floor was decorated with large golden urns, an eagle head on each side, and I wanted to see them close up. Meigs had originally wanted these all filled with plants but permission was denied because of cost so they're now only planted for Inaugural balls.

One of the most notable elements achieved by Meigs on his design was the natural light. He was determined that daylight could be seen by all who worked in the building so all offices around the outside of the building had their own windows and the smaller rooms at the top had skylights. Large windows were incorporated into the tall roof so that the whole hall below could be lit by the outside, and as I stood and looked around, there really were very few lamps or lights on. He had also installed an innovative fresh air system into the building. Under each window in each office, 3 bricks were missing to allow the air to circulate around the building with the atrium in the middle acting as a giant flue.

Above the center court are rows of busts, 244 heads. Originally Meigs had wanted his own face cast along with his wife and family but the idea had got out of hand since so many busts were needed and it's rumored that even heads of convicts were being offered to make up the numbers. The original busts disappeared in 1923 and the heads on display now were designed by Gretta Bader in 1984, representing 8 different building trades from 1680 - 1880. To fill the spaces, the heads have been duplicated.

A corner of the ceiling in the Pension Commisioner's office, the only decorated ceiling in the building.

One of the 4 staircases, one on each wall.

This was a great tour and we were very fortunate in having such an enthusiastic docent who kept us keen throughout. What he didn't mention was that the building was used for government offices until the 1960's and then it fell into disrepair, and was considered for demolition. Thankfully conservationists rallied for its use as a museum dedicated to the building arts and the name was changed to the Building Museum. It's now on the National Register of Historic Places.
The building is the host location for the opening ceremony of the National Cherry Blossom Festival every spring and has also hosted 16 Inaugural balls since 1885, many photos can be seen here.

 

1901 Inaugural Ball for William McKingley.

Light Painting at Blandy

Last Tuesday I drove out to what is probably one of the prettiest places to have a camera club. It's at the Virginia Arboretum. The property was once a farm, built around 1825, and the owner, Graham Blandy, bequeathed it to UVA. Set in over 700 acres, the old building was extended and the room we met in was lined from floor to ceiling with bookcases, heavy tomes on flowers and trees filling all the shelves. Tables were set up in the middle and the first thing I noticed was how friendly everyone was, a vast difference from the Winchester club that I'd visited a few weeks earlier. My new friend Janice was there too and we immediately partnered up to work on light painting photos which was our project this evening. It would have been lovely to do this outside but it was freezing with plenty of snow still on the ground and the temperatures well below zero.
I had brought all my lights and flashlights. Someone had brought a violin and backdrops and soon everyone was sharing and exchanging ideas. I'd rather hoped that someone would actually teach but it seemed we were all beginners so we bantered back and forth, playing with different lights. Janice and I found some glasses in the kitchen and someone had brought a half bottle of red wine which I eyed eagerly, but I soon forgot about that as we attempted to set up our ideas.

I stuck one of my lights on a blue setting behind the violin and shone an orange light on the front.

 We lit up the base of this with a red light and waved a green one around.

 I'd brought my kids light with me, a plastic light that swiveled in a multitude of colors when a button is held down. That was popular, especially when I told them it was only a couple of dollars.

 I stood and circled 2 colored lights in front of me, slowly turning.

This image is a combination of 4 layers. We lit the base, then the bowl of the glass in pink, then waved a flashlight around the glass, then added a colored background.
In the blink of an eye 2 hours had passed and the evening came to an end. This will be a club that I'll go to regularly. We meet once a month so next time, we'll show our images from the light painting and critique each other. And with the warmer evenings coming we'll be able to take the light painting outside or just use the beautiful grounds for projects. And the best part for me is that this club is only about 20 minutes away, such a joy to have something local and not have to drive for over an hour on a week day night. Roll on next meeting!

An Icy But Well Lit Exploration

A late invitation from Jenn had me driving early in the morning to meet with her and 2 others for a day of exploration. Our first stop was in Baltimore at an ice production plant that I'd been to a few years ago. Back then we'd seen plans for this building's redevelopment, a link is here, but not much has happened to the building since then except for a fire in 2010, causing more damage to the structure.

The floor still consisted of multiple ice containers, ironically many now filled with ice thanks to natural refrigeration from our recent frigid temperatures, so we had a good idea of how it would have looked in its day.

The last time I had been here there had been no ice, so all the moulds had held just water, making passage across the floor rather like walking in a fun house at a carnival, as the boards resting on top rocked from side to side when stepped upon.

The old building hasn't faired well and it's sad that the hoped for renovations haven't been started. But one of the pieces of machinery caught my eye from a certain angle because it resembled a pig, so at home in Photoshop, I enhanced the image with some color and voila!

We poked around a bit more but my poor fingers were numb with the cold and I lost interest, eager to move on to the next place just so I could sit in a warm car for a while.
We then moved across town to check out an old building once used by Baltimore Public Works. It was very overgrown and starting to tumble down. Works vehicles from other companies were using the area for parking but when we got inside it was evident the structure hadn't been used for a while.

 A few areas were dark, warranting flashlight use, and we found our beams were lighting up other old forms of lighting. As we foraged around we discovered various shades, glass and plastic, that had once been spares for streetlights around the town.

 An old intercom system.

 There was a beautiful old spiral staircase leading up to some rotten floors and yet more light shades.

We were in a rough area of town but it offered so many cool photo opportunities. An old RV had been dumped by a mural, and I was taken with the various forms of seating outside homes in the street, a very red street. Wasn't sure if there was any significance in that...
We then got back into the car for another drive, this time to a place a lot further away, to a location I can't divulge. Our source for this destination had told us that he was being stalked on the internet to obtain locations and then a group was following behind, trashing and vandalizing his locations. And since I know folks read my blog for urbexing locations, my lips and fingers will not give this beautiful place away.

It was once a form of hospital and had obviously been an impressive house in its prime. We were flabbergasted to find intact the most gorgeous fireplaces and windows, even though the outside was slowly starting to creep its way in, sending tendrils of vines through windows. There were a few areas where the roof was starting to drop large pieces of plaster but for the most part it was intact.

A large wooden dresser held a shell collection, and pieces of a chandelier in its drawers

There are many windows such as these around the house. This was one of a group of 4 in one of the rooms, each window illuminating a season of the year.

Spectacular glass, intricately carved woodwork, painted friezes and handmade tiles decorated this building. We were amazed and deeply appreciative that none of it had been destroyed. There were no signs of any vandalism although we did come across a couple of rooms that appeared to have been lived in recently. We can only assume that this squatter also appreciated his surroundings.

An instrument to test hearing.

Someone liked elephants; I spotted a couple of drawings on the walls.

We managed to locate a little secret staircase that led to the roof. As we stepped out I marveled at how warm 40 degrees felt, the house was like a freezer inside.We stayed out there for a while loving the old steeple's rustic charm and texture, then headed back down to leave the old place quiet once more as we drove the long drive home.