Kenwood: awning (possibly yawning).

Yawn if ye will, but the above represents the first half (or quarter) decent look at the garage entrance, as was, and that curious (if functional) awning:


Presumably there to provide additional cover for the collection of cars at Kenwood, it was of a fair length, as is clear from the aerial shot:


Here's the same spot now, from Joe Baiardi's most recent video:


As readahs will know, John was responsible for building that whole end of Kenwood, and it's all now gone (everything re-built in the mid-90s). But I wonder who the architect was back then. Presumably the construction was handled by Brickey Builders, though as John seems to have gone ahead without planning permission, no records are in the public domain (as far as I can gather).
At any rate, the "new" pic does exist in much better quality, if in private hands and unlikely to be more widely seen.
This, however, whets the appetite even more for Lizzie Bravo's photos of Kenwood, taken at the time, which apparently cover the exterior from every conceivable angle. She's very kindly offered to scan them for us as soon as her much-anticipated book is published.
Thanks to Mark L and Joe B.

Kenwood: June 29th, 1967.

Both of these have been on here before, but somewhat cropped; here are the full (or at least fuller) versions, with the above providing a thrilling full-colour look at the garage roof, and the below not:

Kenwood: north-west extension.

And while we are about it, he (Tammy) has also found this. Again, the widest perspective on the large garage overlooking the swimming pool so far. It also gives a good view of one of the speakers that John had set into the wheel spaces of the Rolls. He would use these to put the fear into pedestrians, via deafening train noises, and Brian Jones, via microphone ("Brian Jones! This is the police! Pull over now!" etc.)
Wot a larf.
Incidentally, the above pic was taken, of course, on June 29, 1967. Fast forward almost 40 years to 2006, and the same space, from roughly the same perspective, looked like this...


...the garage and north-west end having been demolished and re-built in the mid-90s, in order to construct more upstairs bedrooms, and the games room seen here.

Kenwood: north-west end - layout, part 1.

Many details are still unclear, naturally, but in recent weeks most of the big questions regarding the Lennon-era layout of Kenwood have been answered, thanks to the 1964 Ken Partridge plans, and one or two "new" uncropped photos. The biggest remaining mystery concerns the north-west end of the house, as seen above; it constitutes (or constituted) a fair chunk of real estate, but what exactly did it contain?
The answer might just surprise you. But probably not.
First, let's remind "us-selves" of the changes this section underwent during the '95 renovations. The whole area from the sunroom on was demolished and re-built.
Compare the following:


Notice also the comparative sizes of the old, Tarrant built, and new, '95-era garages above. Next, take a look at this, very familiar, picture:


"So what?" I hear you mutter, "This was taken in the garage, right?"
Well, yes and no. The old garage looks too small to accommodate a Roller and a Mini, and it occurred to me that some other details didn't quite fit, either; eg where is the canopy that can be seen in the John photo? So I had a look again at the colour aerial shot...and sure enough, there is a canopy attached to the north west extension...


The clincher would seem to be this '95 plan (pre-renovation), which does what the Partridge plan doesn't - namely, shows the sunroom (albeit the '95 version) and the north-west extension (ditto), canopy in place, and labelled "GARAGE":


So what might well have lain behind that window overlooking the swimming pool was one or other of John's automobiles. This would make sense, for several reasons; John, at that point, had a weakness for cars - at any one time he owned at least 3, including the Rolls. Cynthia also had at least one. It's possible the big extension housed John's "wheels", and the much smaller old garage was home to Cyn's. It might also explain why this part of the house doesn't show up on the Partridge plans - because, applying Occam's razor, it simply didn't exist at that point. John could have had the extension built precisely because he needed more storage space for his cars, the unenvironmentally sound little moptop that he was. (UPDATE - The account of the June '67 visit to Kenwood in the Beatles Book monthly has this to say at one point: "John led the way to the massive double garage at the right hand side of the house". That has to refer to the north-west extension; the old Tarrant garage is clearly very small.)
It would also explain why the Tarrant garage was demolished and rebuilt in '95 - because what had been the main (extension) garage was being converted to a games room, thus making the construction of a bigger "external" garage necessary.
As to when the original sunroom and extension were constructed, it's hard to say - but presumably during the huge round of renovation that accompanied John's initial purchase of the property; late 1964/early 1965. More on this bit, inevitably, to follow...

Kenwood: then and now, part 1.

In the context of all this jibber-jabber, quite an "important" photo has surfaced - to wit, an image giving a clear view of the north-western end roof and rear of Kenwood, as they were before the enormous renovation of the mid-1990s. Thus we now have an illustration, albeit imperfect, of the original Tarrant-built garage - plus final proof that it was indeed demolished, and that therefore Kenwood now has no remaining connection with the "master builder" himself. The new garage is a much more substantial beast - indeed, it's the size of a small house in and of itself. Many thanks to blog reader Eric Nernie, who found the old photo in his archive and sent it in.

Kenwood: staff flat 2006.

A photo of the staff flat above the garage. I´m not sure if this was actually there in the 1960s, but if so then it´s possible Dot Jarlett lived here. (I've since discovered that this garage is completely new, having been built in the mid-90s).