Strange Rooms

I have decided to show you two strange rooms today. They are both in observatories. The top photograph is what you see when you come in the front door of the Detroit Observatory. There are four arches, and they lead to the center of the observatory, which is a huge tapered masonry column that fills the center of the entire building. The column begins in the basement and goes all the way to the telescope room on top of the house. It is really important that the telescope be mounted on something that does NOT move. The lower photograph is in a solar observatory. If it looks like you are inside a giant water tank or silo, you would be correct. In 1930 the designers of this observatory started by buying a water tank, and then added floors and support structure. This is a view of the inside wall of the tank, and the opening in the floor leading down to a lower level.