Posted by Ed Kiser on August 20, 2007 at 15:19:19 from 64.12.116.198 user Kisered.
In Reply to: Re: Beckfoot-number of stairwells/ house building style posted by John Nichols on August 20, 2007 at 01:04:38:
Illustration Reference: "Lookout Post on the Ridge" in PM
John, I accept points one and two, that the lake is north south and the river is roughly east-west, but your point no. 3 regarding the alignment of the house is a bit of a problem.
In looking at the illustration of the D's looking down on the lawn from the top of the promentory, the position of the house is diagonal to the river, so that is the side we see is the NORTH EAST side, the side with the garden door and the Rose trellis visible.
In the illustration "At the Beckfoot Gate" with the D's hiding up in the woods, watching Joly's men gather at the main gate on the road, we see the opposite side of the house, but only a tiny bit, as unfortunately a large tree is hiding much of that side of the house. It does show the one door at the end of the house, the end that I call the "Front" of the house, with only one window upstairs above that door. I say that door is facing southeast. There is a window visible on this side facing the D's, a window that I feel is the window to where Dick spent one night, that is, CF's bedroom. In the distance, appearing just at the edge of the house, is an object that I am feeling that it is the boathouse on the river beyond the house. The positioning of the house is not north south nor east west, but at a slant, to face the boathouse, as is definitely shown in the "Lookout Post..." illustration.
My claim that the garden door and the trellis side are facing a north east direction is further substantiated by the night of the Burglary, in which Dick waited until the moon came up bright, so was shining on the windown of the study where he had to climb in, but by the time he was ready to flee, the moon had risen further so that a shadow was along that side of the house. Now, if this side was directly east, then the moon would not have cast a shadow until after midnight, and I do not feel Dick was that long in the study. But with that study window facing north east, the moon's shadow along that side would come much earler as the moon rose in the eastern sky. With the moon at its most southern direction, the study window would be well in a deep shadow. If the study window was facing north, as your point #3 claims, then the moon, rising in the east, would not have shined on that window at all, as the moon rises in the east, and moves across the southern sky, away from that northern side of the house. "Getting In" shows the study window and the trellis to be in full moonlight, with the shadow of the sundial indicating the direction of the moon. With it rising in the east, that shadow, pointing away from the moon, is showing where the WEST direction is.
Now I wonder how much of this detail was in the mind of the artist when making these drawings.
Not that any of this is really all that important to enjoying the books, but if we have fun kicking this about, then...
Now, about the plumbing, where the fresh water comes from, where the bathroom is located, well, we'll have to rehash all that a bit later...
"Once more, into the breech, dear friends..."
Ed Kiser, Kentucky