Last summer I picked up this Row by Row quilt pattern for the 2016 Home Sweet Home challenge at Jinny Beyer Studio in Great Falls.
Since the fabrics that she designs were too gorgeous to pass up, I bought the kit.
To help me keep track of the directions while learning new quilting tricks in her pattern, I meticulously labeled all the itty bitty parts!
PENTAGON WALKING TOUR ON MEDIA DAY WITH PHOTOGRAPHERS
On July 26, 2011, my kids and I took a tour of the Pentagon, but no photos from us since photography is not allowed.
Nevertheless, there were about a million photos taken of us, because it was media day!
We were told to act naturally and ignore the photographers.
While I was standing next to the escort, a photographer who was following us aimed the camera right at me and my kids and the tour group behind us while he steadily held his finger on the shutter, creating a staccato of rapid fire clicks often heard at press conferences.
As we continued our tour, the photographers moved around us or with us and walking backwards to take pictures galore.
Meanwhile the escort walked backwards to face us while keeping running commentary on basic facts about the Pentagon, like how many escalators there are.
We walked by many stores and restaurants, as well as historical paintings on display that the escort detailed.
At the 9-11 Memorial Room in the Pentagon where the plane hit, we saw a couple of medals and memory books of the victims who died.
That was the most moving part of the tour.
We walked nearly the entire pentagonal path of the building, with a walk through the courtyard, which totaled nearly a mile.
The biggest question of the day was: Why is the building a pentagon shape?
Assuming it was symbolic to the five services: army, navy, marine, air force and coast guard, I learned it was more complicated than that.
JULY 1941 WASHINGTON DC NEEDED MORE OFFICE SPACE
The threat of Hitler in Europe made the War Department cautious about having enough steel to build warships and such.
The explosive growth of the War Department required a massive location to house them.
As they met in private buildings, Gen. George C. Marshall, the Army chief of staff, sought a solution in July 1941.
Two men were given an assignment to design a building to house 40,000 workers, 10,000 cards, 4 million square feet of office space, no more than four stories high so it wouldn’t block views of Washington DC, and to save money on steel.
WHERE TO BUILD THIS MASSIVE OFFICE BUILDING?
Without room in Washington DC, locations across the Potomac River in Virginia were considered.
Perched on a hill above the Potomac, just below the Lee mansion and overlooking Memorial Bridge, Arlington Farm was one of the most prominent sites in the Washington area. (The Pentagon: A History Stephen F. Vogel)
Former land from the Arlington Estate of George Washington Parke Custis and his daughter (married to Robert E. Lee), this 400-acre spread nestled within Arlington Memorial Drive and Arlington National Cemetery, had been used since 1900 as a farm, by act of Congress.
In 1940, President Franklin Roosevelt transferred that land to use by Fort Myer for training.
HOW TO FIT A SHORT MASSIVELY LARGE OFFICE BUILDING INTO AN ODD-SHAPED LOT?
Arlington Farm had a peculiar asymmetrical pentagon shape bound on five sides by roads or other divisions. (The Pentagon: A History Stephen F. Vogel)
Thus, an assymetrically-shaped pentagon for a building was discussed, and argued, for its pros and cons.
ARLINGTON FARM LOCATION OBSTRUCTS VIEW
During many meetings full of disagreements and architectural drafts, one key concern that arose was how this building would obstruct the grand view originally designed by Pierre l’Enfant, buried in front of Arlington House, overlooking the Potomac River.
More disagreements back and forth about the obstruction of a beautiful view for a building only meant to be temporarily needed due to the impending threat Hitler’s storm in Europe.
RELOCATING SITE TO HELL’S BOTTOM
Further deliberations resulted in recommending an unused plot of land just south of the planned site, called Hell’s Bottom, which created more debate.
WASHINGTON DC PERMANANCY OF TEMPORARY IDEAS
Meanwhile President Roosevelt recalled WWI when he advised then President Wilson to build temporary office buildings for the Army and Navy along the National Mall…that are still there. Before the assembled reporters, the president again prostrated himself before the altar of L’Enfant for having brought the “temporary” buildings to the Mall. “And here it is — under the name of emergency, it is proposed to put up a permanent building, which will deliberately and definitely, for 100 years to come, spoil the plan of the national capital,” the president said. “. . . I have had a part in spoiling the national parks and the beautiful waterfront of the District once, and I don’t want to do it again.” (The Pentagon: A History Stephen F. Vogel)
AGAIN ADJUSTING THE PLAN
The following afternoon, reporters were brought into the Oval Office for a second press conference. The “best solution,” Roosevelt announced, would be to put the bulk of the building on the quartermaster site, with a small portion jutting onto the adjacent Arlington Farm land. (The Pentagon: A History Stephen F. Vogel)
The bill passed by Congress did not specify where on the Arlington Farm site the new building was to be placed. As long as any part of the project was on Arlington Farm land, the president reasoned, it would technically adhere to the act of Congress. “So that makes it entirely within the bill,” the president declared. Inspecting Hell’s Bottom several days later with Somervell and Clarke, the president looked over the tawdry neighborhood and pronounced the site “excellent.” (The Pentagon: A History Stephen F. Vogel)
NEW PLAN IN BETTER SHAPE
Under the relocation for the site, a pentagon-shaped building was no longer required to fit the space.
With the larger space, a true pentagon could be built, which would be more efficient, including shorter walking distances within the building, and more aesthetic, and historically accurate to the shape of old military forts.
While more arguing of the pros and cons ensued, including how such a shape would make an easy bombing target, President Roosevelt simply replied:
“You know, gentlemen, I like that pentagon-shaped building,” Roosevelt said. “You know why?”
“No,” the commissioners replied resignedly.
“I like it because nothing like it has ever been done that way before.” (The Pentagon: A History Stephen F. Vogel)
