Most of the pieces will be totally based on the architectural details of the building. But, even though the pieces are based on purely the visual aspects of the building the history of the building itself is interesting. Right now I'm reading The History of the Standard Oil Company by Ida M Tarbell to get more of a feel for what transpired in the area and in the building as it related to the oil industry.
The concept of time travel fascinates me and I would love to be able to go back and observe the Transit Building in it's hey day. I would have to go back as a man though, since the Transit Building was a men only building!
Here's a few photos of the National Transit Building where my studio is located.
This spiral fire escape is outside my window (The one that I can't get open..... hope I never need it!)
The steam elevator is not working anymore but when it did it went to Rockefeller's penthouse on the 4th floor. I've been told that there are only two of these elevators in the world and that the other one is in the Eiffel Tower. (It's loaded with lots of design possibilities.)
This is the (it takes two hands to open it) vault located inside my studio. I'm not sure how many there are in the entire building but this one is part of a block of four.
1 comment:
Well, Alice, should you ever find yourself in a situation where you NEED to use that (lovely, I might add!) spiral fire escape, might that be a time to, oh, perhaps, grab some heavy gloves and pick up a firebrick (both of which I figure you have right there) so you can "open" the "window" that way?
I ask that simply in the sense of: when you're in the midst of an emergency, you don't want to be trying to make such decisions right then. It might be worth thinking through in advance the situations where something like that might or might not be advisable....
Of course, I hope you won't ever need to do that! I look forward to seeing the jewelry series that result from all these exploratoins!!!
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