Virtual 1221 archive (as of January 23, 2004)
I've been counting the bricks and doing other
measurements on old photographs of 1221 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. to
reconstruct the dimensions of the building. So far, I've only got
a partial reconstruction of the facade, not yet including the
third floor, but I think the results have a sort of surrealist
charm. "Ceci n'est pas une école," as René Magritte might say.
The small photographs can be clicked for larger versions.
The last two pictures attempt to convey an impression of how 1221 might
have looked before it was painted black and white, assuming the
original materials were either red brick or yellow brick
and brownstone. A
Washington Post article from 1909
("Epiphany Church Home", Nov 14, page CA6) describes the exterior as
yellow brick. A photograph published with the article shows that
the raised band above the foundation was approximately as dark as the
lintels, so it was either a different color brick or painted to match
the brownstone. Other than the colors, the building exterior in
the 1960s was almost unchanged from 1909, when the rear addition was
built. (Read more about
how the model was constructed.)
The next steps will be to complete the exterior walls and then the
roof, initially not including the 1909 addition. My plan is to
model the
entire exterior first, then attempt to reconstruct the interior.
The model was rendered with
POV-Ray. I've used photographs from the 1960-1964 yearbooks as the basis for the model, as well as some
1962 newspaper photographs
and the 1909 photograph already mentioned.
If anyone has interior or exterior photographs, measurements, souvenier
bricks (for color and dimensions), or other materials which could help
me accurately model the building and determine the floor plan, I would
be very grateful to obtain copies, photographs, or measurements.
Also, please let me know if some detail doesn't match your recollection.
-- Dana Sawyer
Copyright © 2004 by Dana Sawyer
Content last updated January 23, 2004
Links updated February 21, 2004
