As the original vision of Apple crumbled, so did the Apple building itself; by 1972, you had Neil Aspinall, a generous quota of accountants & the Apple Studio, but not a great deal more. Aspinall and bean counters moved to a new office in St James's Street. 3 Savile Row was ripped to pieces - a gift to essayists ever since (construct your own analogies).
These photos all date from 1973. As the above shows, the back of the building was completely demolished, and this area now, obviously, bears no resemblance to the "glory" days. The following give another view of the facade under scaffolding: "New Reduction Suite, Apple Corps Ltd", and, to the right of that, the entrance hall as it looked in 1973 - literal chaos. John and Yoko's Bag Productions office, or what was left of it, was immediately to the left.
Astonishing (and fitting) it may be, but in the midst of all this, the basement studio staggered on as a going concern: It didn't close until 1975. Apple sold the lease towards the end of the following year. Further reconstruction, inevitably, ensued.
Thanks again to Julian Carr, and to the City of London: London Metropolitan Archives for kind permission to use these fascinating images.
I remember reading something about the tedious and multistaged construction and reconstruction of the cellar studio in the end destabilizing the building - maybe that is why the "took off" what appears to be the backside of the house.
ReplyDeleteHi, 'somewhere' i have a pic of Paul standing near the stairwell you can see in the top photo with the weird wallpaper, if i can find it i'll send it along.
ReplyDeletewould be great, to get more picture like these
ReplyDeleteHi
ReplyDeleteI love this Blog . This is what i like .
Those magical places , like Savile Row , Kenwood .
I would love to mail with you , you do such a great job .
Thanks for sharing .
I read somewhere it was Magic Alex who did something to the basement studio when it was first designed, thus destabilizing the building...but likely more to do with the laborers who did the work.
ReplyDelete