Kenwood: house of green.

All aboard the Trivia Express, people. Next stop Anal Tragedy (pop.1). Nevertheless, one of the more famous images to emerge from Kennie was John with his sunflower eye, a variant of which can be seen above. I'm sure it's been on here before, but something about the lo-res quality of this 'un caught my eye; that's got to be the greenhouse there behind him:


Thus, another location becomes pin-downable. That sequence of photos will have been taken at the bottom of the steps, beside the enduring tree:


Joe Baiardi's video captured the very spot:


And here's a "now" from the same source, the greenhouse gone these days, in common with much else:


Speaking of things gone, NEMS in Liverpool has been demolished. A fairly unlovely building, true, but of immense importance in the Beatles' story, it now joins a shameful list of buildings destroyed for no good reason up there.
Liverpool is a fantastic city, but the people in charge of planning are a bunch of *****ing ***s ******ing ****s **** * * * *******************ing *****s.
As long as The National Trust preserve the childhood homes of John and Paul, and the Best family continue their sterling job with the Casbah, Beatles fans will have a reason to go to Liverpool. But as the list of places to visit dwindles ever further, so the chances of repeat trips dwindle too, with all the long term knock-on effects to the economy that entails.
Astonishingly short sighted and stupid. ****s.

Kenwood: more greenhouse.

I have dribbled previously that the greenhouse was demolished in the mid-90's. Wrong again; here it is in 2006, very much undemolished, and its exact location clear from the panorama above.
Below - 1968, 1967, 2006:


As far as I know, it isn't there now however - but maybe Joe can confirm that.

Kenwood: summer, 1968 - part 6.

Near the western perimeter of the grounds sat the greenhouse, familiar from June 29, 1967, when John decided to do the dead Che, a few months before Che himself did, on John's birthday, October 9, 1967. But I digress:


The greenhouse gradually fell into a state of disrepair throughout the 1980s, eventually being demolished, inevitably, during the wholesale reconstruction in the mid-90s (Rubbish - as it turns out, the thing was still there in 2006, though it's now gone (I think)). Not far from where it stood, the north perimeter steps can be found, leading up past the old swimming pool to the side of the garage; they, at least, are still there, just about. This is how they looked in the summer of 1968, as captured by Cathy Kelleher Sarver:


As previously seen, John and Yoko were also caught in that very locale, out for a stroll in December, 1968:


The next photo in this sequence, taken having climbed the perimeter steps, answers another question about the Lennon-era house. I'll deal with that in the following post.

Many thanks again to Cathy for taking these pictures, and to Lizzie too.