Hi, Folks ---
Wonderful stories...from "young kids" to Judith Wasserman, who was 39 when she saw the light!
Neil Silva's being told; "If you're in the field to make money, get out.", brought back a fond memory. In my first Architects'-office job (age 20), I worked for a wonderful pair of partners in a local office. Part of my duties included field observation at a school that was nearing completion. One of the partners told me; "You'll probably never make as much as the skilled-trades people that build your jobs!..."
He was right...
Oh well, you can't take it with you, right?
And, talk-about changing demographics and feelin' old... In my last job in someone else's office, '81 - '84, we received an RFP for re-use of that same school!
And, the fascinating stories of young folks' tools-&-toys for inspiration, were great, and kinda familiar. I had a generous supply of support; thanks, Mom.
Do any of these sound familiar?
1. Summer art classes at the Museum (age 9-to-12).
2. Teachers in grammar school gave me extra "math paper", for sketching.
3. And, Mom rescued Dad's "shirt cardboards" (from the cleaners') to draw on.
4. My house sketches, perspectives, were "originals", incl. a "battle-of-the-styles" mess.
5. I built several model houses w/ construction scraps*, and from Druke's**.
6. My brother & I didn't always get along, so I proposed my own bedroom...***
7. In 6th grade, I did real work on a neighbor's house!****
8. Late '50s car-styling fascinated me ('57 Ford: "Suzie Sorority in steel").
9. Architecture books as occasional gifts.
Elaborations:
*
New houses were being built near our house. I hung around, knew the framers and kitchen-fitters, picked-up scraps, etc. Kitchen cabinets were field-built then, which yielded great long, skinny scraps.
**
Did anyone have Druke's Lumber Yard sets? The yellow box contained a great selection of basswood, and a tiny backsaw. I'd get one at Christmas, my birthdate, and occasionally in-between. My "intuitive" scale of the model houses was very close to 1:16 (3/4"=1'-0").
***
My older brother Jim & I had the room over the garage, and were often at odds. At about age 8-or-so, I realized there was 7'x14' of eave space behind us, and did a sketch for a shed dormer to have my own area. That went over like a lead balloon...
****
In the Spring of '58, I saw batter boards on a lot 1 block down the hill. Soon, I'd befriended Tony G., an amazing guy; he and 3-or-4 co-workers at one of the local lumber yards were building his brick-veneer house! By some miracle, he let me do real work on his house. I nailed-off his subfloor (1x8 T-&-G on the diagonal; they did the tongue nail, I filled-in the 2 in-between), back-filled some of the foundation, carried hod up the ladder, and did miscellaneous other chores. After working there much of the Summer, I had to stop for 7th grade. (Imagine that in today's liability climate!!)
Ah well, back to work...
Keep-on Arkitekkin'!
Bill
william j. devlin aia, inc.,
ARCHITECT
Springfield, MA