Photo: Ralph Morse/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images, Jul 01, 1946
I’m not especially looking forward to dying, but when the time comes, I couldn’t think of a better way to go than the way George Bernard Shaw died: from a fall while pruning a tree at age 94.
The Honest Architecture blog has a nice post about George Bernard Shaw’s tiny, rotating backyard work shed, where he spent much of his time. Apparently, spinning huts like this were popular in the early 1900s. It was basically a lazy susan that Shaw would periodically turn a few times a day for optimal sunlight, shade, and temperature.
According to the National Trust website, the shed was equipped with casters that rotated on a circular track. The hut was electrified, and had an electric heater and telephone. I wonder how the wiring was accomplished — maybe you couldn’t spin the hut more than 360° to prevent twisting the wiring too much?
George Bernard Shaw and The Marvelous Spinning Shed