3 Savile Row: then & now, part 3.

A final helping of Apple, for now at least.
Heading up a floor, we come to the press room...or what's left of it, which isn't much. In fact, this whole room has been reconstructed, with only the window wall intact from the Deggs-era. Then unt now above, and a couple of '69 shots below:


Just outside is a small windowless room which, I'd guess, was once the "black room", infamous dumping ground for the thousands of demos, scripts, etc. sent in following the following:


And that "infamous" room:


Ever upwards to the top floor, and the head of the stairs circa 1914; this rather ornate staircase was pulled out in the 1960s, pre-Apple, and the whole area was demolished in the 1970s:


Top floor, back and front, or north and south, as you prefer, circa now/1914. In Apple days, home to Apple Films and the kitchen. John and Yoko's caviar bill was, apparently, on the indulgent side:


Finally, the roof, which requires no description:


Other than to say that it too has been completely rebuilt - but note how everything around it remains unchanged; the chimney pots, or lack of them, make a good reference point:


And there we have it.

3 Savile Row: then & now, part 2.

As good an illustration as one might "hope" for of the manifold problems that "then unt now-ing" presents; one corner of what once was the ground floor office of John & Yoko, circa 1914 and 2006. Note how the room has been reduced in size, and the entrance has moved walls. The bottom of the grand staircase (itself subsequently replaced) is visible through the 1914 door.
Other aspects have survived, notably the fireplace:


Much of the detail of the room has gone, however. There seems a general tendency in renovation to favour the bland, possibly connected with prevailing notions vis-a-vis "property" that anything too individual or characterful will cause "potential next-buyer" problems. Whatever, they can't (or at least haven't) moved the windows. (Yet.):


Dragging "usselves" upstairs to the first floor, the long room overlooking Savile Row was the main board-room, ie the Beatles' collective office, not over-used by the four for reasons of business (and personal) dissonance. Co-incidentally, it is also probably the space to have been least abused. 1914 v. 1968:


1968 v. 2011. The fireplace is behind chipboard, and note how the spaces adjacent to the windows have been boxed in:


A close look reveals radiation:


The large wooden fireplace surround, an echo of grandeurs past, unmasked:


The other end of this room has seen some tinkering. Compare, again, if ye will, 1914 with 2011: the door is the same, but hidden behind the screen in 1914. Decoration still in-situ, though an arch has been inserted:


Thus, despite the odd cosmetic flim-flam, it's pretty much as was:


See here, again '68 versus '11:


Next up, upper floors (including what has become of the former press room), and the roof.

3 Savile Row: then & now, part 1.

At the time of writing, visitors to number 3 will find the ground floor and basement hidden behind a builder's wooden facade. Once again, the house is being remoulded, this time as part of a retail-related endeavour, planning permission having been granted to turn the basement, ground and first floors into a branch of Abercrombie & Fitch, with the upper floors earmarked for offices. In traditional fashion, work is currently at a standstill, as there is wrangling over the design of an external access lift.
However, once that has been resolved, it should be possible to get in for a shufti, though be warned - little remains of the Apple-era structure beyond part of the external frontage, the basement roof beams, the reception room and adjoining office, the stairs and the front first floor office. Pretty much everything else is new; even the roof is completely different from that familiar to viewers of valedictory concerts.
At some point during the 1970s, and again in the early '80s, massive renovation occurred, such that most of the building was demolished and rebuilt. Why this happened is unclear, though persistant rumour has it that structural studio related alterations during the Apple era caused foundational instability, thus necessitating the radical rehaul.
So, (and so) little remains, but let's take a look.
Today we'll examine the basement and ground floor reception room (as circled above). Starting at the bottom, here's another circa 1914 shot of the front portion of the basement:


The roof beams are the only remaining original feature - the fireplace (see previous post), and, o' course, any traces of the Apple Studio are long gone. At the moment, in common with much else inside, it's just a shell:


This is a room at the basement rear, constructed during the 1980s:


Moving upstairs to the ground floor reception, bits of which may be glimpsed in a hundred fan photos of Les Fabs entering and exiting:


This room, despite having undergone substantial renovation itself, remains recognisable. Note the wall arches, still there albeit reduced in length (the black & white shots date circa 1969, the colour circa 2005):


A reception desk eye view, again black & white '69, but this time versus 2011:


The eagle-eyed will have spotted the sudden appearance of a fireplace in the contemporary shot (note the different coloured wood at the top of the surround - a modern replacement for the original section):


This fireplace (or at least the wooden surround) was moved to the reception in the 1980s when the back room where it originally sat was demolished. Compare back room (1914) with reception (2011):


Here's what replaced that back room - not particularly inspiring, and sad to say, it's the same story all over the house. The characterful original rooms have been supplanted by the blandest of functional modernity:


Returning to reception, another glimpse was afforded during LIB when the rozzers rolled up. The '69 pic shows how the other side of the room looked then:


Note the front door. Again during the '80s, for some reason a small pre-entrance space was installed. I'm glad to say this is being removed during the current work, thus restoring the room to its original dimensions:


To the left of the front door is the entrance to what was once Bag Productions, familiar from a million Peace-era J&Y interviews:


The door to the right of the reception desk leads to the rear of the building, and the main staircase:


Lovers of trivia may note: this is, in fact, number 3's third staircase, and replaced a much grander example installed in the early 20th century. The current one was there during the Apple era, having been put in circa mid-1960s, and is itself now being replaced:


We'll go up it as and when I can be arsed... Part 2 to follow.

3 Savile Row: basement.

Not that you'd know at first, second or third glance, but the above is a photo of the basement room at 3 Savile Row, circa 1915 and the very spot where the middle third of LIB was filmed. I recently found a fascinating antiquarian publication by the then owner of the house, Basil Dighton; said tome includes a history of number 3, plus 15 photos of the interior.
It's been surprisingly hard to match most of these to images of the Apple incarnation, but this one I've managed, mainly because a couple of obvious features survived further renovation, namely the fireplace:


...and the wooden roof beams:


The book is in a bit of a state, having nothing much left by way of a spine, and also being so dried out that the paper is beginning to crumble. Even scanning the above pic has led to considerable damage, but I will try and scan more as and when I can. And you try, as ever, to contain yourselves.