Dad made this sign. It was chained around a tree trunk at one of the two driveway entrances, this one off of Georgetown Pike. The other end was off of River Bend Road. The new owner left the sign there and it has gradually faded and degraded. It was there as recently as 2017.
This Polaroid photo was probably taken by my mother or a contractor. Dad and I are standing in front of what will be the fireplace in the living room.
Dad, Mom, me, and Augie the dog stand near the southeast corner of the dining room, in front of where a terrace will be built.
"My Map Of Where I Live". Crayon and graphite on lined notebook paper circa 1965.
The house that was designed and built for my family in 1963 in Great Falls, VA was sold in 2000. The new owner planned to tear it down and build a 15,000 square foot McMansion. He permitted me to make photographs before and during the teardown. This was taken in the autumn of 2000. This is in the courtyard between the 'Granny House' (a.k.a. guest house) at left and the main house at right.
This piece shows the southeast side of the house lined up with the architectural plans. The 'scariest part of the house' was the crawl space under the kitchen, dining room and living room, plus the storage space through which it could be accessed.
This was the oak tree at the northeast corner of the house. Back in 1963, prior to construction, the general contractor told my parents that it would have to be taken down before building because it was going to be too close to the foundation and would thus die. But my parents declined. The blue 'X' here means that it was finally to come down in 2001 prior to the new construction. At my brother's request, I arranged with the teardown contractor to have two 8' sections of its trunk saved. John and I now have boards milled from those sections.
This image shows the kitchen during a pause in the teardown. There is text describing the contents of each cabinet and drawer. Through the door at center was the dining room. See text enlarged in the next image.
Here I have crammed together the texts from the Kitchen picture, and placed them approximately where they exist in the image.
This picture shows the hallway in the bedroom wing. The circular staircase is at the center. The text over the image here is reproduced larger in the next image.
The text reads: Family photos hung on both sides of the hallway. The first door to the left was the laundry room. Next, a bathroom, then my bedroom at the end of the hall. The door to my sister's room was to the right of mine, then the linen closet, but those were changed later. The next door is to the study. My brother's bedroom and bathroom were downstairs, as was [sic] the playroom, storage room, darkroom, and crawlspace. The door to the right was to our parents' room.
This picture has texts over each side of the medicine cabinet. On the left is written: 'Empirin #3 and #4 and Dolophine' [Dad had severe back problems.] On the right: 'Biphetamine'. [Mom's doctor in the late sixties kept up with trends I suppose, hence this was prescribed as a diet drug. Mom said she took it just one time and stayed up for two days.] At the time the house was built, we thought this was the fanciest bathroom ever, and it had a skylight. Not visible is the raised extra-long soaking tub.
This was my bedroom doorway. The bed fit into the alcove at right. This part of the house originally had linoleum tiles. The wood flooring and central air-conditioning were put in by Dad and his wife Katherine. After Dad's death, Katherine made further renovations that included removing the wall that was between my sister's room and the study, and the door to my sister's room, which used to be right outside my doorway, was covered with sheetrock. Seeing that my sister's door was no longer there gave me the creeps.
This is a view of the stairs from the basement. We children were very excited by the novelty of the circular stairs. My sister and brother would scare me by crouching in the shadows under the stairs, grabbing my ankles as I went up or down.
This was the darkroom that Dad built in the basement for me around 1975 or so. A great place to work. When I was shooting this photograph of it in 2001, I had a weird cognitive glitch and looked into the box that is sitting on the counter at the back left side, thinking that it must be some stuff I had left behind. I had not used the space since 1979.
The crawlspace under the front part of the house. May 1, 2000.
Teardown, Hitachi Resting.
Here, the dining room and kitchen are being pushed over.
I was startled that there was no pre-teardown attempt at salvage. The living room had very large beams.
Excavated dirt pile at 639 River Bend Road.
The text written in this piece: From left: the guest house, the new barn, the missing house and the foundation for the new owners' house, and the welding/casting studio. [End text.]
Our stepmother had built the barn several years previous. The welding/casting studio was for dad's artistic as well as practical endeavors with welding and with bronze casting.
The new construction is attached tumor-like to the original 'Granny House' built in 1964 for my mother's mother. I have wondered if the building permits for this new mansion were granted for the construction of an 'addition', but I have no proof of this. The 'Granny House' was altered some time after this picture--faced over with brick to look more in keeping with the new construction.
Dad made this sign. It was chained around a tree trunk at one of the two driveway entrances, this one off of Georgetown Pike. The other end was off of River Bend Road. The new owner left the sign there and it has gradually faded and degraded. It was there as recently as 2017.
This Polaroid photo was probably taken by my mother or a contractor. Dad and I are standing in front of what will be the fireplace in the living room.
Dad, Mom, me, and Augie the dog stand near the southeast corner of the dining room, in front of where a terrace will be built.
"My Map Of Where I Live". Crayon and graphite on lined notebook paper circa 1965.
The house that was designed and built for my family in 1963 in Great Falls, VA was sold in 2000. The new owner planned to tear it down and build a 15,000 square foot McMansion. He permitted me to make photographs before and during the teardown. This was taken in the autumn of 2000. This is in the courtyard between the 'Granny House' (a.k.a. guest house) at left and the main house at right.
This piece shows the southeast side of the house lined up with the architectural plans. The 'scariest part of the house' was the crawl space under the kitchen, dining room and living room, plus the storage space through which it could be accessed.
This was the oak tree at the northeast corner of the house. Back in 1963, prior to construction, the general contractor told my parents that it would have to be taken down before building because it was going to be too close to the foundation and would thus die. But my parents declined. The blue 'X' here means that it was finally to come down in 2001 prior to the new construction. At my brother's request, I arranged with the teardown contractor to have two 8' sections of its trunk saved. John and I now have boards milled from those sections.
This image shows the kitchen during a pause in the teardown. There is text describing the contents of each cabinet and drawer. Through the door at center was the dining room. See text enlarged in the next image.
Here I have crammed together the texts from the Kitchen picture, and placed them approximately where they exist in the image.
This picture shows the hallway in the bedroom wing. The circular staircase is at the center. The text over the image here is reproduced larger in the next image.
The text reads: Family photos hung on both sides of the hallway. The first door to the left was the laundry room. Next, a bathroom, then my bedroom at the end of the hall. The door to my sister's room was to the right of mine, then the linen closet, but those were changed later. The next door is to the study. My brother's bedroom and bathroom were downstairs, as was [sic] the playroom, storage room, darkroom, and crawlspace. The door to the right was to our parents' room.
This picture has texts over each side of the medicine cabinet. On the left is written: 'Empirin #3 and #4 and Dolophine' [Dad had severe back problems.] On the right: 'Biphetamine'. [Mom's doctor in the late sixties kept up with trends I suppose, hence this was prescribed as a diet drug. Mom said she took it just one time and stayed up for two days.] At the time the house was built, we thought this was the fanciest bathroom ever, and it had a skylight. Not visible is the raised extra-long soaking tub.
This was my bedroom doorway. The bed fit into the alcove at right. This part of the house originally had linoleum tiles. The wood flooring and central air-conditioning were put in by Dad and his wife Katherine. After Dad's death, Katherine made further renovations that included removing the wall that was between my sister's room and the study, and the door to my sister's room, which used to be right outside my doorway, was covered with sheetrock. Seeing that my sister's door was no longer there gave me the creeps.
This is a view of the stairs from the basement. We children were very excited by the novelty of the circular stairs. My sister and brother would scare me by crouching in the shadows under the stairs, grabbing my ankles as I went up or down.
This was the darkroom that Dad built in the basement for me around 1975 or so. A great place to work. When I was shooting this photograph of it in 2001, I had a weird cognitive glitch and looked into the box that is sitting on the counter at the back left side, thinking that it must be some stuff I had left behind. I had not used the space since 1979.
The crawlspace under the front part of the house. May 1, 2000.
Teardown, Hitachi Resting.
Here, the dining room and kitchen are being pushed over.
I was startled that there was no pre-teardown attempt at salvage. The living room had very large beams.
Excavated dirt pile at 639 River Bend Road.
The text written in this piece: From left: the guest house, the new barn, the missing house and the foundation for the new owners' house, and the welding/casting studio. [End text.]
Our stepmother had built the barn several years previous. The welding/casting studio was for dad's artistic as well as practical endeavors with welding and with bronze casting.
The new construction is attached tumor-like to the original 'Granny House' built in 1964 for my mother's mother. I have wondered if the building permits for this new mansion were granted for the construction of an 'addition', but I have no proof of this. The 'Granny House' was altered some time after this picture--faced over with brick to look more in keeping with the new construction.