Architecture in Oz: The Emerald City Palace By Melody Grandy An Overview "The Emerald City is built all of beautiful marbles in which are set a profusion of emeralds, every one exquisitely cut and of very great size. There are other jewels used in the decorations inside the houses and the palaces, such as rubies, diamonds, sapphires, amethysts and turquoises. But in the streets and upon the outside of the buildings only emeralds appear, from which circumstance the place is named the Emerald City of Oz." Thus Baum describes the title city of the sixth Oz book. "Sparkling green gems ornamented the fronts of the beautiful houses and the towers and turrets were all faced with emeralds. Even the green marble pavements glittered with precious stones...a grand and marvelous sight..." says Baum in _The Land of Oz._ From the same splendid materials, the Wizard's Ozian workers built the Emerald City palace. Thompson also tells of the "palace of green marble and emeralds." But what blueprint did the workers follow? The Wonderful Wizard's Palace The non-Ozian Wizard likely presented an American/European squarish plan to his Ozian builders. Ozian workers, favoring domes more than American/Europeans, likely influenced the Wizard's plans in return. In _Wizard_, Dorothy follows Jellia Jamb 'through seven passages and up three flights of stairs...to a room at the front of the palace.' Hinting of an immense, at least four-story building. _Scarecrow_ confirms "The palace is almost a city in itself..." _Magic of Oz_ gives a Palace overview: "In the Center of the Emerald City of Oz ... is a vast and beautiful garden, surrounded by a wall inlaid with shining emeralds, and in the center of this garden stands Ozma's Royal Palace, the most splendid building ever constructed. From a hundred towers and domes(1) floated the banners..." of all five Oz provinces. 1. A tower is 'a tall structure either standing alone or forming a top part of a building.' A turret is 'a small tower forming part of a larger structure, as of a castle,' or 'A little tower projecting from a building; a small tower, often crowning the angle of a wall: it is often only ornamental.' Presumably, many of Baum's 'hundred towers and domes' could be mere decorative turrets. _Royal Book_ concurs with Baum: "... gemmed turrets and spires of the palace flashed more brightly than the stars." In another book, Thompson also put a "clock in the tallest tower of the castle." _Lost King_" packs a splendid overview into the hectic action: "The towers, turrets, and gleaming roof of the castle burst through the earth and, impaling the frightened company upon its spires, carried them kicking and struggling into the air. Up, up, and up shot the castle, till the entire structure was standing upon its proper foundations. The flag pole had caught Sir Hokus...Ozma and the little girls had...been carried aloft on one of the rounded domes...Scraps hung limply over a filigreed balcony,...the Scarecrow dangled from a spire." And the basic shape of the palace? In _Land_ it surrounds its central garden-courtyard "on all sides." The Scarecrow goes to a _corner_ of the courtyard, and because Oz histories describe four distinct wings, Palace must be a square or rectangular box. Further, several books mention a "suites lining both sides of the corridor" plan we see in large hotels. In one book, Dorothy crosses a corridor from her own rooms to knock on Trot's door. All four wings probably follow this basic plan, giving Palace residents plenty of windows, with views of courtyard gardens or gardens outside the Palace. From our prior tour of the gardens, we already know the South wing is the front of the Palace. Later we'll see it is the governmental wing. The North wing, like the North gardens, seems reserved for mundane work. Most of the West wing, like its garden, is public, and the East wing, like the East garden, is private, for Palace residents and guests. _Land_ says 'in one place a passage (from the interior courtyard) led to an outer gateway...barred..." Since the Sawhorse seems to rush straight from the courtyard to the Winkie Country, the passageway must run through the West Wing of the Palace to the West Drive. Baum gates the West passageway only at the west end, with no side doors or gates. Because the passage would block first-floor traffic, it must pass through and divide the West _cellar_. In several books, guests must climb steps to the first floor of the front (South) Palace. Here, the Palace cellar must rise far out of the ground. However, in _Wishing Horse_ Dorothy darts from the (Northwest) Banquet Hall through a French Window directly out into the Palace gardens. The Palace grounds apparently slope down from North to South, making possible the passage through the cellar in the West Wing. _Land_ mentions other 'various entrances of the royal palace' with heavy doors that the Scarecrow's party bolt and lock. 'The Army of Revolt could not batter down the barriers in several days,' Baum claims. A wise precaution the builder probably took against wicked witches and other enemies. Also, in _Land_, Baum mentions the hall where people waited for a reception with the queen, the reception parlors, and the kitchen. And in _Ozma_ is the sole mention of a barracks for Ozma's soldiers. Which could be in the East or North Wing, or both. Or be an entirely separate building. Here is the basic Palace Plan, to which we will add later: BASIC PALACE PLAN SPACE The Royal Subcellar Let's start at the bottom. Thompson discovered this chamber in _Kabumpo_. The Nome King "crouched in a deep chamber, tunneled under the Emerald City... A big emerald lamp cast a green glow over the strange cavern..." Later she tells how the Nome King found it: "...a few strokes of Ruggedo's spade revealed a great, dark cavern, already tunneled by someone else. It was huge and the exact shape of the royal palace...it was directly beneath the gorgeous green edifice..." And there would have to be great pillars down here to prevent the Palace from sinking. Still later: "...Ruggedo (dug) new tunnels and chambers, so that leading off from the main cavern was a perfect network of underground passages." Still later, "Ruggedo finds a gold ring in the floor which opens a square storage space in the floor." The Nome's assistant, Wag the rabbit, has a seven-foot- square fully-furnished rock-room, with door and overhead hole to admit light. It adjoins the cavern, likely near the kitchen gardens that Wag steals carrots from. In _Wishing Horse_, Matiah's "foot brushed up against an iron ring in the floor" of the Palace Cellar. The ring is the handle of a trapdoor to the subcellar. He later traps a kitchen boy with it, locating the trapdoor under or near the kitchen. The Royal Cellar The only cellar furnishing mentioned by Oz historians is the golden potato bin where Matiah waylaid the kitchen boy. Later, Matiah knocks himself out against a stone pillar in the cellar. Likely one of many supporting pillars and walls that keep the Palace aboveground! Further, there could be small windows in the walls where the cellar rises aboveground, just as we find in the foundations of houses. These lower windows could have elegant emerald settings, and stained glass. The passage the Sawhorse used to escape the inner courtyard divides the West Wing cellar south of the veranda. There are probably several entrances to the cellar -- and plenty of rooms with plenty of fairyland junk! The Royal Roof Besides _Lost King_, only _Land_ ever mentions a visit to the roof. The Wogglebug carried the Gump's head up some stairs -- perhaps spiral tower stairs -- to the roof. And "both he and his burden tumbled...upon the roof and might have rolled off if Tip had not rescued him." Nobody could roll off the flat roof with crenellations Neill depicts in his illustration; so this section of Palace roof was peaked or slanted with NO walls. When the Gump comes to life, "Tip managed to grasp a chimney, else he would have been blown off the roof by the terrible breeze raised by its wings." Assuming one fireplace per suite or room, there would be a fair number of chimneys to grab. Lost King makes passing mention of "the gleaming roof." The 'gleaming roof' must surely be plated with incorruptible gold. I. The South Wing of the Palace The Front Steps In _Land_, Jack Pumpkinhead "wanted to ride up the green marble steps and straight into the Scarecrow's presence." But Omby Amby escorts him into the front entrance only after Jack dismounts, and the Sawhorse has been led away to the rear. Later, the returning Scarecrow and company "reached the royal palace and marched up the marble steps...once...thickly encrusted with emeralds" which the city jewelers later restore to their settings. In _Road_, a crowd of servants greets Dorothy's party from the top of the steps. The Portico In _Lost King_, "Kabumpo stepped upon the broad portico(2)..." at the top of the stairs. This portico might be the pavilion in _Wonder City_. 2. A portico being a roof-covered structure supported by rows of columns and attached to a building. The Ozian builders likely put a dome atop the columns. Thompson hangs a jewelled bell rope beside the door. Dorothy presses her nose to diamond panes in the door. Mogodore, in "Jack Pumpkinhead", slams _both_ gold doors of the palace, so Dorothy peered through a _pair_ of doors. And golden double doors in a pointed arch seem grander still than a square doorway. Since Baum described the Palace hallways as arched, it seems natural for the doorways and windows to be arched as well: ARCHED DOORWAY ILLUSTRATION The Great Hall _Lost King_ says the room beyond the front doors is a "great hall." Probably _the_ Great Hall, where people await audience with the ruler of Oz. Here we modify the palace box-shape. For several reasons, the Great Hall and portico is NOT part of the box, but juts out perpendicularly, like so: GREAT HALL ADDED TO BASIC PLAN ILLO To deserve the name, the Great Hall would be at least two stories tall. During their first visit to the palace, Dorothy and friends "pass through the Palace Gates and were led into a big room with a green carpet and lovely green furniture set with emeralds." Later Dorothy sees "a great hall in which there were many ladies and gentlemen of the court." In _Land,_ Jack is "left in a handsomely furnished waiting room while the soldier went to announce him." The Gump is "hung over the mantle-piece in the hall," so it has at least one fireplace. _Road_ calls it 'the grand hall" and "big hall." In _Wonder City_, Number Nine crosses "the green glass floor of the reception hall." Glass likely being incorrect because the palace is marble. In _Lost Princess_, Toto, coming from Dorothy's rooms, meets Jellia in the hall of the palace. The Grand Staircase In _Road_, the Shaggy Man follows a servant through the Great Hall, "up the grand staircase carpeted thick with velvet...along a wide corridor to" Shaggy's guest suite. So the Grand Staircase leads from the Great Hall to guest or resident's suites. In _Lost _ _Princess_, Toto "trotted out into the corridor (from Dorothy's rooms)...down the stately marble stairs to the hall of the palace." Again, in _Tik-Tok_, "(Dorothy) ran down the stairs two at a time (from Ozma's suite) to greet her new friend, Betsy Bobbin," in the Great Hall. Both Baum and Neill hint that the Grand Staircase might be a spiral staircase. Number Nine mounts "a flight of spiral stairs built of black mirrors.(3)" In _Hidden _ _Valley_, Jam follows Jellia Jamb "up a winding staircase and down another long hall..." 3. Which is probably an error -- or someone changed the stairs by magic -- because Baum states the stairs are marble. In _Wonder City_, after Number Nine arrives in the Great Hallway, "At the foot of the stairs stood the Soldier with the Green Whiskers... "All heads turned toward the Grand Stairway... After a few minutes (the Wizard of Oz) appeared on the stairs." Since I will place the Throne Room beyond the South Wing Corridor, directly across from the Great Hall, these stairs might wind in such a way as to reveal the Throne Room entrance. Here is a possible plan: GRAND STAIRCASE PLAN The Throne Room Through the arch of the Great Hall, past the Grand Staircase, and across the South corridor, we arrive at the Throne Room entrance. In _Emerald City_, the Throne Room has doors, plural. _Gnome King_ confirms it when "Samuel Salt reached the locked golden doors" of the Throne Room. Double-doors, at least. When _Emerald City_ calls the Throne Room "an immense domed chamber in the _center_ of the palace," (italics mine), the Throne Room must be _more centrally located_ than the other rooms. _Land_ already puts a courtyard there, so the immense dome must occupy part of the inner courtyard, impinging upon the South Wing like this: THRONE ROOM ADDED TO PLAN ILLO When the humbug Wizard looks out a Throne Room window in _Wizard_, he is viewing the courtyard. When the Comfortable Camel looks in through a window, he must be in the courtyard. _Wizard_'s Throne Room is more extravagant than in later books. "It was a big, round room with a high, arched roof (for support), and the walls and ceiling and floor were covered with large emeralds set closely together. ...In the center of the roof was a great light, as bright as the sun, which made the emeralds sparkle in a wonderful manner." Re-emphasizing the room's shape, "The Wizard's voice came from somewhere near the top of the great dome." "But what interested Dorothy most was the big throne of green marble...in the middle of the room. It was shaped like a chair and sparkled with gems, as did everything else." There's at least one other entrance to the Throne Room -- to the chamber back of the Throne Room where the Wizard stores his disguises. After _Wizard_, the throne may have been moved to the back of the room or replaced, for the Historians describe the throne in several different ways. In _Emerald City_, the throne is "made of solid gold and encrusted with enough precious stones to stock a dozen jewelry stores in our country. Also, "... In a balcony high up in the dome an orchestra played sweet music, and beneath the dome two electric fountains sent sprays of colored perfumed water shooting up nearly as high as the arched ceiling." How does the orchestra reach that balcony? We locate the balcony West, away from the private quarters, close to the Ballroom and the Banquet Hall, where the orchestra also plays. So we fill that space left of the Throne Room like this: ***********ORCHESTRA BALCONY ADDED TO THRONE ROOM ILLO*********** _Patchwork Girl_ implies the throne is raised. "In the magnificent emerald throne, which sparkled with countless jewels, sat Ozma of Oz...a little lower, was Dorothy...Still lower...sat the wonderful Wizard of Oz..." The Throne Room has more than one entrance "...The Shaggy Man entered from a side door..." "Seated in ivory chairs before Ozma, with a clear space between them and the throne, were many of the nobility of the Emerald City...and others...filling the great hall to the very doors." For all to see Ozma, her throne would need to be elevated on a dais. _Cowardly Lion_ confirms a throne dais when the Wizard of Oz comes "bounding down the steps of the throne two at a time..." So the dais, at this time, has at least four steps. In the same book, "...the Comfortable Camel thrust his long neck in through one of the windows..." And Bob Up "retired behind an emerald pillar..." Which keeps the great dome from falling down. _Lost King_ alters the lighting system. "Dorothy...pressed a small radio button in the wall. ...and, as the emerald lamps flooded the room with their reassuring glow..." Again, "Kabumpo had wound his trunk around one of the palace pillars..." And Humpy's head rests on "the last step of the dais,(4)" the first time the throne platform is ever named. 4. The Latin term 'dais' derives from means "discus, a table; discus, a platter, and it means "a platform or raised floor at the end or side of a room or hall, as one on which are placed tables and chairs for specially honored guests." Ozma's dais may be round. In _Pirates_, "Peter directed the pig to a large emerald- studded window above the throne...The window was so high that no one in the Emerald Throne Room noticed Peter..." So there are low windows and high ones. Thompson also mentions an emerald safe in the Throne Room. In _Giant Horse_, Trot sinks down upon the carpeted steps leading to the throne. In _Wishing Horse_, Dorothy flings both arms around one of the emerald studded pillars. In the same book, an uneasy Chalk tries to keep an eye on "all the doors and windows." If such existed during the Wizard's reign, he kept them locked and curtained! In _Wonder City_, the Sawhorse "dashed directly through the halls to Ozma's throne room. The walls of this room were of gold, with silver panels, inlaid with precious emeralds, rubies, and diamonds. The floor was a soft emerald green, and the throne was a solid carved emerald." Neill has changed the decor completely from _Wizard_. Later, he again says Ozma's throne is "carved out of a single huge emerald." Kabumpo stands behind the throne in _Lucky Bucky_, so there is some space between throne and rear wall. Snow, in _Magical Mimics_, makes the Throne Room floor marble. And in _Shaggy Man_, the Wizard says, "Just as we entered the throne room, (Conjo) whisked past us...up the tower stairs that lead to my magic workroom." So the Wizard may have _two_ doors opening into the throne room. In _Yankee_, Jinnicky drops a basket "on the foot of the marble steps" to the throne. We finally know Ozma's throne sits on a dais of marble. Ozma's Suite Leaving the Throne Room, let's mount the Grand Staircase to the second floor of the South Wing. Here we find the Royal Suite of Ozma of Oz, which, in _Lost Princess_ "filled all the front of the second floor." Not entirely correct, for in _Road_, Dorothy goes out on a front balcony adjoining her sitting room. So Dorothy's sitting room is in the front of the palace, with the rest of her apartments 'turning the corner' into the East Wing from Ozma's apartments. _Lost Princess_ describes the entire Royal suite. Dorothy, seeking Ozma, walks into "a little waiting room." "Opening the door of the outer chamber, she went in. All was still here. She walked into another room...Ozma's boudoir, and then, pushing back a heavy drapery richly broidered with threads of pure gold, the girl entered the sleeping-room...The bed of ivory and gold was vacant... ...Dorothy returned through the boudoir to the other rooms of the suite. She went into the music-room, the library, the laboratory, the bath, the wardrobe and even into the great throne room, which adjoined the royal suite, but in none of these places could she find Ozma. So she returned to the anteroom where she had left the Maid, Jellia Jamb..." The above helps place the Throne Room in the South Wing with Ozma's suite, but we need a way down to the Throne Room on the first floor. A passageway dividing the South corridor, and leading to stairs is one possibility. A door to the downstairs Throne Room across from the library doors is another. The Great Hall juts from the South Wing because it had to be at least two stories tall, making it impossible for Ozma's second-floor apartments to sit on top. The apartments likely run behind the back wall of the Great Hall. Placing the Grand Staircase further back from the Hall than one might visualize when reading the books, the Great Hall, Grand Staircase, Throne Room and Royal apartment arrangement might be like this: GREAT HALL, GRAND STAIRCASE, THRONE ROOM, AND ROYAL APARTMENT Which seems awkward! If anyone can suggest a neater layout which harmonizes with the Oz historians, let's see them! The music-room, library, laboratory, bath, and wardrobe may not be in the order Dorothy investigated them. It is illogical for a wardrobe and bath to be farthest from the boudoir -- defined as a woman's private sitting-room or dressing room. But -- the bath and wardrobe might be the last places Dorothy would look for Ozma. So the wardrobe and bath likely adjoin the boudoir or bedroom. What unnamed 'here' does Dorothy enter from the waiting-room antechamber? In _Patchwork Girl_, Ozma's guests "went to Ozma's drawing-room..." A drawing-room being "a room furnished with sofas, chairs, etc. used for conversation, entertainment of guests, etc.; a living room: sometimes called parlor." So Dorothy first entered the formal living-room. This could be the "more dainty and attractive than splendid" room where Zeb met Ozma. Thompson often mentions "Ozma's private sitting-room" (which also means living room) as the Magic Picture's location. Baum always put it in Ozma's boudoir, so Ozma may have moved it to her living room to make it more available to friends -- and to make her private boudoir more private. In _Ozoplaning_, Thompson locates Ozma's safe in the sitting-room "in an alcove behind a pair of silk curtains." There is a "golden mantel," therefore a fireplace, in the same room. Indeed, Strut starts a fire in it a few paragraphs later. The sitting room appears in _Yankee_. "Turning in at the first open door (Ozma's suite being the first one after the stairs) (Yankee) found himself in a small cozy sitting room." Where he finds the Magic Picture. The amnesiac Ozma escapes this sitting-room in _Forbidden _ _Fountain." _ Next, Ozma's boudoir. In _Patchwork Girl_, Ozma tells Jellia Jamb, "Please go to my boudoir...and get the white piglet I left on the dressing-table." The term "boudoir" comes from the French 'bouder,' meaning 'to pout,' 'to sulk.' A place for a helpless lady to chafe at the highhandedness of a tyrannical husband, father, or whatever. 'Boudoir' is an ironic name for a powerful queen's dressing room. A boudoir can be a lady's private sitting-room, or dressing- room. In this case, it's Ozma's dressing-room. Baum often mentions the boudoir as the location of the Magic Picture before Thompson moved it to the sitting-room. Baum also calls the boudoir Ozma's "private room." The wardrobe probably adjoins the boudoir. Considering the number of clothes of the average queen, the wardrobe is probably a big walk-in closet, not a cabinet. Since, in _Ozplaning_, the Tin Woodman fetches water from the dressing-room, the bath adjoins the boudoir, too. Ozma's sleeping-room is entered by parting a drapery, not opening a door. And one must go through the boudoir to get there. It is not clear whether _only_ a drapery separates bedroom from boudoir, or if this drapery covers an arch in a wall. Neill says "the lofty walls" of the bedroom "shone with silken hangings." In _Lucky Bucky_, Mombi lands in a "balcony where she hid among the Queen's favorite flowers." The living room and Library are most likely to have balconies. Going back through the boudoir and sitting-room, Ozma's private Library is probably next. This could be _Scalawagons_' Consulting-Room, where Ozma goes to a bookcase and looks up the identity of the whisker-wings. In _Magical Mimics_, Toto "trotted past the open door of (Ozma's) _study_ in the Royal Palace of the Emerald City." What better place to study than a library? "The little maid led the way down the corridors...to a large double door. Here she knocked... "Jellia Jamb opened the door (to)...Ozma's library, where the shelves that rose from the floor to the ceiling were filled with Magic Books of Records. The little ruler of Oz was seated at a table, deep in the study of one of the books." The little ruler of Oz likely requires a ladder, or even a stair and railed ledge, to reach those upper shelves. Then Snow takes us into the laboratory, probably adjoining the Library. Here Ozma keeps magic books. He calls it "Ozma's Chamber of Magic," where the "Mimic queen slammed the door of the Chamber of Magic and locked it just in time to prevent Toto's entry." So there's one door, and "a large French window that look(s) down on the palace courtyard." Last is the Music Room, undetailed in later Oz histories, probably reached through a corridor that bypasses the Magic Room. If Dorothy could have penetrated the wall beyond the Music Room, she probably would have emerged midair in the Palace Ballroom, more a part of the West Wing than South. Skamperoo's Apartments During Skamperoo's brief rule of Oz in _Wishing Horse_, he dismisses Ozma's suite "as too plain and simple." And probably MUCH too feminine! He takes "the immense green guest suite across the hall." Thompson continues, "After a few regretful sniffs out the window, a few short turns up and down their immense and elegant sleeping apartment, Chalk leaped up lightly on one of the large green beds ..." Two beds probably, reserved mostly for visiting kings and queens. Chalk comments that the green carpet looks good enough to eat. And Skamperoo puts out "the emerald stars in the ceiling that pleasantly lighted his apartment," just before burrowing into his splendid green bed. Next morning, he showers, dresses, stands before a mirror, notices his magic emeralds are gone, races over to a balcony and calls to Chalk, who must be nibbling clover in the interior courtyard. Directly across from Ozma's apartments, perhaps it is for guests with whom Ozma especially wants to confer: Guest monarchs, etc. The Royal Record Room In _Lucky Bucky_, Neill mentions the Record Room, but never tells where it is. But perhaps Ozma, the Wizard, and Number Nine got down to business west of the Throne Room passage on the second floor. Here, "Many matters of public importance came up for attention. Large green envelopes containing reports floated through the air into the Wizard's hand. When each case was disposed of, the envelope floated back to the filing cabinet in the Hall of Records." One filing cabinet of many, we trust. Because the South Wing contains Ozma's suite, the Great Hall for subjects to await audience, and the Throne Room, it qualifies as the governmental wing. That's why I placed the Record Room in the South Wing, too, plus all other rooms and offices related directly to the governing of Oz. Including the Council Chamber more than one Oz fan, including myself, assumed existed, but did not find in even _one_ Oz book(!) Here is a diagram of the South Wing: THE SOUTH WING!!! II. The East Wing of the Palace Home of Oz celebrities! In _Yellow Knight_, Sir Hokus walks down the "gold-flagged hallway" from Dorothy's apartment. So this is the East Wing corridor on the second floor. And, in "Upstairs, Downstairs" tradition, the servants _might_ live on the first floor as well as in back. We never visit a servant's suite in the Oz books, but one exchange between Dorothy and her relatives is revealing. "'These are your rooms,' said Dorothy, opening a door. "Aunt Em drew back at the sight of the splendid furniture and draperies. ... "'It beats the Topeka Hotel!' she cried, admiringly. 'But this place is too grand for us, child. Can't we have some back room in the attic, that's more in our class?' "'No,' said Dorothy. '...all the rooms in this palace are just as fine as these, and some are better.'" In true egalitarian spirit, servant's rooms are just as elegant as Uncle Henry's and Aunt Em's -- unlike the Biltmore House of Asheville, North Carolina, where the servants' quarters are about as elegant as hospital rooms. Dorothy's Rooms Dorothy's room in _Wizard_ is likely not her later suite next to Ozma's apartments on the second floor. Dorothy and Jellia climbed 'three flights of stairs' to reach the guest room in _Wizard_, so it is on the fourth floor. The first guest room is 'a room'; her permanent suite has four rooms. The first room "was the sweetest little room in the world, with a soft, comfortable bed that had sheets of green silk and green velvet counterpane. There was a tiny fountain in the middle of the room, that shot a spray of green perfume into the air, to fall back into a beautifully carved green marble basin. Beautiful green flowers stood in the windows, and there was a shelf with a row of little green books ... In a wardrobe (closet) were many green dresses..." Dorothy's present suite _could_ be modeled on the above. _Emerald City_ tells us: "Dorothy had four lovely rooms in the palace, which...were called 'Dorothy's Rooms.' These consisted of a beautiful sitting room, a dressing room, and dainty bedchamber and big marble bathroom." _Road_ places the sitting room at the front of the palace, saying that Dorothy and her friends are eating breakfast there. Then, hearing an approaching band, "They all went out upon the balcony...which was at the front of the palace and overlooked the streets of the City, being higher than the wall that shut in the palace grounds." Then Dorothy and her friends re-enter her room. Her sitting-room could be in a tower in the Southeast Palace. Therefore the room and balcony could be round. In _Kabumpo_, Sir Hokus stretches "his armored legs to the fire...in the cozy sitting-room of (Dorothy's) apartment..." Putting a fireplace in Dorothy's sitting-room. The Sandman strikes "the emerald setting just above (Dorothy's outside) window" in _Kabumpo._ Likely a window overlooking her front balcony. In _Ojo_, Dorothy dresses for her journey in "her little green dressing room." In a later book, "Dorothy came out of her private rooms and went into Ozma's dressing room." No mention of using the corridor. Perhaps to shorten the Historian's word count, or Dorothy used a door between her sitting-room and Ozma's dressing- room. After _Lost Princess_, Ozma could have had a door made. In _Lost Princess_, only Dorothy dared enter Ozma's rooms without permission. Everyone else's fear of Ozma could be a holdover from the Wizard's reign, when the Wizard styled himself an awesome, mysterious figure by hiding from everyone. Dorothy's sole privilege was an improvement over the old days. Betsy's Rooms "There's a pretty suite of rooms just opposite your own where Betsy can live..." Ozma says to Dorothy. Putting Betsy's suite across from Dorothy's, and around the corner from Skamperoo's. Nothing else about Betsy's suite appears in the Oz series. Trot's Rooms We don't know what Trot's rooms look like, either. But, in _Scarecrow_, "Trot was given a lovely little room next to that of Dorothy..." And in a later book: "One morning Dorothy crossed the hall of the palace and knocked on the door of...Trot." But Betsy is already across from Dorothy. Either Betsy moved, or Trot is directly next door to Betsy. A second door at the north end of Dorothy's suite would solve the problem -- a door directly across the East Hall from Trot's apartments. Cap'n Bill's Rooms "Cap'n Bill had the cosiest sort of a room next to Trot's and overlooking the gardens." The courtyard gardens because Betsy's, and Trot's, and Cap'n Bill's apartments seem lined up in that order. And that's all we know of Cap'n Bill's apartments. However, they are likely as nice as Henry's, Em's and Shaggy's. Uncle Henry's and Aunt Em's Rooms Dorothy remarks that her rooms are not far from Uncle Henry and Aunt Em's. They must be on the East wing's second floor, though the Oz books don't say exactly where. "Then Dorothy showed them through the rooms. The first was a handsome sitting-room, with windows opening upon the rose gardens. Then came separate bedrooms (A not-unusual arrangement in the Victorian era) for Aunt Em and Uncle Henry, with a fine bathroom between them. Aunt Em had a pretty dressing-room, besides, and Dorothy opened the closets...her dressing-table was covered with engraved toilet articles." Later, "Uncle Henry and Aunt Em live in a pretty cottage near the palace." But perhaps the above rooms are reserved for their visits to the palace, just as Dorothy's were before her permanent move to Oz. The Shaggy Man's Rooms The location of Shaggy's suite is even more vague. It _is_ on the second floor, because Shaggy only climbs the Grand Staircase and goes along "a wide corridor to a carved doorway. Here, the servant paused and opening the door... "The Shaggy Man entered the room and shut the door... "He had been given one of the handsomest apartments in the most magnificent palace in the world... "The furniture was upholstered in cloth of gold, with the royal crown embroidered upon it in scarlet. The rug upon the marble floor was so thick and soft that he could not hear the sound of his own footsteps, and upon the walls were splendid tapestries woven with scenes from the Land of Oz. Books and ornaments were scattered about in profusion, and the Shaggy Man thought he had never seen so many pretty things in one place before. In one corner played a tinkling fountain of perfumed water, and in another was a table bearing a golden tray loaded with freshly gathered fruit, including several of the red-cheeked apples that the Shaggy Man loved. "At the farther end of this charming room was an open doorway, and he crossed over to...a bedroom containing more comforts than the Shaggy Man had ever before imagined. The bedstead was of gold and with many brilliant diamonds, and the coverlet had designs of pearls and rubies sewed upon it. At one side of the bedroom was a dainty dressing-room, with closets ...and beyond this was the bath -- a large room having a marble pool big enough to swim in, with white marble steps leading down to the water. Around the edge of the pool were set rows of fine emeralds as large as door-knobs... ...After he had dried himself...he went into the dressing- room and took fresh linen from the drawers..." A later passage mentions an alabaster pool in Shaggy's rooms. A handsome apartment, indeed! Sir Hokus' Chambers Of Sir Hokus' chambers, Thompson had this to say, "Reaching his great stone chambers, Sir Hokus leaned against his four-post bed and stared gloomily at a picture of his friend the Scarecrow on the opposite wall." And (from his apartment), he trod softly into the hall and down a little-used stairway to the garden. Tik-Tok's Room In _Yellow Knight_, "In his tower room, Tik-Tok, the machine man, marched sternly to and fro..." When I read this passage, I pictured an empty or near-empty round room. I could be wrong -- then again, Tik-Tok has no human need or desire for furniture or trappings. Like Hokus, he could be on _any_ floor, in _any_ tower in the East wing. Perhaps the first, to minimize falls down stairs? Jam's Apartments "After going up a winding staircase and down another long hall, Jellia announced: '"This is your apartment... ... he and Percy went into the suite of rooms. Once inside, the boy gasped in amazement at the splendor of his quarters. The furniture was inlaid with gold and precious stones, and the carpets and drapes were of the finest materials. "Off the sitting room was a pretty bedroom, with silken sheets and coverlet on the four-poster bed and pictures of the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman on the walls. A tile bath with a tub as big as a miniature swimming pool next attracted the boy's attention... When (Jam) was ready to dress, Percy opened one of the wardrobes..." ALL the wardrobes in the Palace are probably closets, unless some palace dandy overstuffs his. This is likely the second floor, too. Zeb's Rooms "Zeb was also escorted to a room -- so grand and beautiful that he almost feared to sit in the chairs or lie upon the bed, lest he might dim their splendor. In the closets he discovered many fancy costumes of rich velvets and brocades ... "Opening from the chamber was a fine bath-room having a marble tub with perfumed water... " Here, Zeb's room seems to be one room. Since Dorothy first used a one-room chamber on the fourth floor, one wonders if the apartments on the third and fourth floors are meant for temporary guests, and the second floor for permanent residents -- or those who _might_ become permanent. Here is a bird's eye diagram of the East Wing, second floor: EAST WING, SECOND FLOOR And a horizontal view of the entire wing: HORIZONTAL PLAN OF THE EAST WING III. The North Wing of the Palace Now we turn the corner from East wing to North. Until Ozma built the stables, this wing housed the growing Palace pet population. It must also house the "forty-nine courtiers, thirty-nine footmen, thirty-seven handmen, twenty-six serving maids, ten cooks, and a flock of pages" Thompson lists in one history. As mentioned in the East Wing reference, the servant's quarters may spill over into the first floor of the East Wing. The backs of houses and castles are usually reserved for mundane chores. The kitchen gardens are back here, so the kitchen is located here, too, west of the back door. In _Giant _ _Horse_, "Ozma herself, with the King of the Ozure Isles on one arm and the Queen on the other, led the way to the grand banquet hall. The Hungry Tiger, peering in from the castle kitchen... sprang out joyously as they entered...." Then, "the great company seated itself at the long green banquet table..." So the kitchen and banquet hall directly and conveniently adjoin each other. Because the banquet hall is for public functions and so must be in the West Wing, and the kitchen must be located in the North Wing, this places the Banquet Hall in the Northwest corner of the Palace, with the kitchen beside it, like this: BANQUET HALL AND KITCHEN PLAN The North Wing must house workrooms, workrooms where the Palace seamstresses sew the "lovely dresses of every description and suitable for every occasion" that fill the Palace closets. And workrooms for other Palace production and crafts. And storerooms for sewing supplies, food, and extra furnishings. We know there is a cellar entrance somewhere near or in the kitchen, for, in _Wishing Horse_, Thompson mentions a Kitchen boy who goes to get some potatoes from the cellar. Jim's Room Meaning Jim the Cab-Horse. Who "found himself in possession of a large room with green marble floor and carved marble wainscoting...so stately in appearance that it would have awed anyone else..." This is what an unfurnished palace room looks like. His room must have been located close to the East Wing, for we read "he ambled calmly through the handsome arch of the doorway, turned the corner of the palace, wherein all seemed asleep (so he turned into the East residental Wing, where the servants were asleep in their own elegant and stately quarters), and came face to face with the Sawhorse (who must have had a room of his own near Jim's.) The Kitchen In _Lucky Bucky_ "The Wizard wandered into the royal kitchen to get a slice of pepper cheese from the royal refrigerator...sat down at a carved crystal table... "From a far closet came a faint rattle, then through the open door, an array of brooms stepped forward..." So here is the broom closet -- or _a_ broom closet. IV. The West Wing of the Palace Turning the corner from the North corridor, we enter the West Wing, where we locate the Royal Banquet Hall, at least one veranda, a royal Living or Drawing Room, the Royal Ballroom, the Orchestra Room, and the Wizard's quarters. Beginning at the Northwest, the Banquet Hall extends down the West Wing the length of "a city park," the Hall's size in _Wishing Horse_. The "splendid drawing-room" in _Dorothy and the Wizard_ is not the one in Ozma's suite, for Dorothy "hastened _down_ to the splendid drawing-room (or formal reception room) of the Palace..." from her second-floor apartments. Since a drawing- room is a living room, it is not the throne room. In _Magical _ _Mimics_, "a group...was gathered in a living room adjoining the Grand Dining Room." Putting the Royal Drawing-Room next to the Banquet Hall in the West Wing. Finally, Snow says what room occupies the South of the West Wing in the same Oz history: "Yes," replied Ozma, "the Grand Ballroom, which adjoins the Throne Room..." Only, she probably meant "across from the Throne Room." Butting the Ballroom against the Throne Room would be awkward in the layout worked out so far, especially since that would crowd both the Wizard and the Royal Orchestra. Across the corridor from the Banquet Hall, Drawing-Room, and Ballroom are mostly rooms of unknown uses -- with one notable exception, as we'll see. The upstairs -- between the Banquet Hall and Ballroom because I put no rooms above those, must be the domain of the Royal Orchestra. Here they have access to all four balconies where they perform -- in the Banquet Hall, Ballroom, Throne Room, AND outside. Then there is the suite of the Palace Architect himself, the Wizard of Oz! I've placed his quarters off to themselves, in the West rear of the Throne Room, with a West door and two Throne Room doors. It may seem odd for him to live in the public wing, until one realizes the Great Oz, both as real wizard and humbug, could spy on guests in the daytime, and have the West Wing to himself when all are asleep. Dorothy runs madly up _the hall_, not halls, from the Banquet Hall to the Wizard's laboratory. Flimsy evidence, but better than none. Here is a diagram of the West Hall: The Royal Banquet Hall _Road_ gives the first account of the Banquet Hall. "A long table was spread in the center of the great dining-hall of the palace and the splendor of the decorations and blaze of lights and jewels was acknowledged to be the most magnificent sight that any of the guests had ever seen... "...At the upper end of the banquet room was a table set for the animals.... "At the lower end of the room was another table.... "...an orchestra of five hundred pieces, in a balcony overlooking the banquet room, began to play sweet and delightful music. Then a door draped with royal green opened, and in came the fair and girlish Princess Ozma..." Thompson, in _Wishing Horse_, declares this hall "Easily as large as a city park, (with) just (enough) room for the two long, sparkling, flower-laden banquet tables..." The orchestra's balcony must be in the south Banquet Hall. It's unknown how far this Balcony extends into the Banquet Hall, or whether it extends at all. In _Rinkitink_, the Orchestra is hidden behind "a bank of roses and ferns." Thompson hides them behind a "bower of palms." Considering the Orchestra's size, it seems odd that Oz celebrities have never, in any Oz book, collided with a musician _once_! The 'door draped with royal green' must be the Drawing-Room door -- a south door conveniently places Ozma at the head of the table. Besides, one can hardly imagine Ozma emerging from the kitchen! In _Jack Pumpkinhead_, the shrunken Mogodore hides behind a hearth broom in the Great Banquet Hall, signalling the presence of a great fireplace, probably set into the wall between the Banquet Hall and kitchen. In _Wishing Horse_, Dorothy "darted through a long French Window(5) into the Garden." Palace windows probably are of glass and metal. They might even extend from the bottom of the Hall almost to the roof, with a sturdy wall between each, affording diners lovely views of the West Gardens. The 'openable' part of such a window would likely be confined to the bottom. 5. A French window being defined as: "a pair of casement windows, usually extending to the floor, that have glass panes from top to bottom and are hinged at opposite sides of a window frame so that they open in the middle." Casement windows being: "A window sash that opens outward by means of hinges." The Royal Drawing-Room "She hastened down to the splendid drawing-room of the palace, where, seated on an exquisite throne of carved malachite and nestled amongst its green satin cushions was the lovely Princess Ozma..." Ozma's malachite throne is the only thing _Dorothy and the Wizard_ mentions in this room. Malachite, a semiprecious stone with random "marblized" patterns of green, must have seemed more fitting for a drawing-room throne than full-fledged gold or marble studded with precious emeralds. But malachite, in its own way, is as beautiful and more unusual than emerald. The Drawing-Room must be one, or two, stories high at the very most, to accomodate the Royal Orchestra's activities upstairs. The Veranda(s) The _Cowardly Lion_ of the title "paced to and fro on the wide veranda of the loveliest palace in Oz." Omby Amby stepped "out from behind a pillar." Later, the Cowardly Lion "padded down the steps after" Omby Amby. Thompson never precisely placed the Palace porch, but perhaps it juts from the Palace Drawing-Room. She mentions the Saw Horse running races with Hank, which they could easily do on the West Drive. Other animals talk and argue freely without waking anyone -- which would happen if they were outside the East wing. A West Wing veranda would be just the place for guests to go amidst dining and dancing. The veranda roof may double as the balcony the band uses to give Dorothy's party a sendoff in _Emerald City_. The veranda roof could have a collapsible dome the band can open when they wish to play here. Only a theory -- but this would give the Orchestra convenient access from the room on the second floor between Banquet Hall and Ballroom. It is possible the East wing has a veranda, too. The Grand Ballroom What fairyland castle would be complete without a Grand Ballroom? But the one time it appears in the Oz series, it is used for trapping Mimics, not for dancing. "'Yes,' replied Ozma, 'The Grand Ballroom which adjoins the throne room -- its walls and ceiling are composed entirely of mirrors.'" Then Ozana "paused before the great door which was flung wide open." Being in the Southwest Wing, the Ballroom is probably the Banquet Hall's mirror twin in size, and in having an orchestra balcony at the north end. The Orchestra Room Up to the second floor, and to the great room where the Orchestra gains access to the balconies in the Banquet Hall, Ballroom, Throne Room, and veranda. Though it has never been described, visited, or even _mentioned_ in an Oz book, it _must_ be here. And with four hundred and ninety-nine musicians, plus one conductor, the Orchestra Room has to be a busy place! Musicians are perhaps housed across the corridor in second, third and fourth floor suites. There may also be teaching and rehearsal rooms here. The Laboratories of the Wizard of Oz In _Wizard_, Baum thus described the Wizard's quarters: "He led the way to a small chamber in the rear of the Throne Room, and they all followed him. He pointed to one corner, in which lay the Great Head ..." When the Wizard returns to Oz, "Jellia said to the Wizard, 'Your own room -- which was back of the great Throne Room-- has been vacant ever since you left us. Would you like it again?'" So, "In his little room back of the Throne Room the Wizard found a lot of things he had left behind him when he went away in the balloon, for no one had occupied the apartment in his absence." Then, in _Magic of Oz_, Dorothy "went to the Wizard of Oz, who had a room fitted up in one of the high towers of the palace..." One might think he had moved. But _Yellow Knight of Oz_ finds him "in his laboratory back of the throne room" again. And Thompson keeps him there until Neill has Number Nine "mount endless stairs ... up the highest flight in the palace" to the tower laboratory. And there the Wizard seems to stay until Martin lands the Wizard on the first floor again in _Ozmapolitan_. Obviously this poor Wizard needs an elevator, for he has a first-floor laboratory AND a tower laboratory. Connected by the corridor behind the throne room: WIZARD'S QUARTERS This plan is the only one that harmonizes with all the Oz histories. In _Wishing Horse_, Dorothy and a friend "hurried across the corridor (from the Throne Room) to the laboratory of the wonderful Wizard of Oz." At the climax of _Wishing Horse_, Dorothy, in the throne room, says, "The Wizard's Laboratory is right across the hall." This hall or corridor may actually be the 'small chamber' Baum describes in _Wizard_, with a west door to the West corridor, a north door to the laboratory, an east door to the tower, and a south door to the throne room. The West corridor door -- and the Throne Room Door -- would have been locked tight during the years the Wizard hid from his subjects. Thompson does mention that Dorothy "burst through the swinging doors" to enter the Wizard's lab, but perhaps she meant "double- doors," for more security against potential magic-thieves. Here, we'll include the furnishings as well as the rooms, because the Wizard's apartments are equipped so differently from the others. "Really, she was hoping to see Ozma and four other rulers grouped around the Wizard's green table... Dorothy tiptoed from one end to the other of the long, curiously appointed apartment, peering into cupboards, under sofas, and back of screens..." "...the little hanging closet where he stored his transformation powders and wishing pills was bare as the cupboard of old Mother Hubbard." Later, Bitty-Bit 'ordered all the windows and doors in the laboratory closed..." then sits on a tall shiny stool to interrogate his prisoners. Pigasus flies up to "a tall cabinet." After being rescued, Highboy looks out a window at the garden -- the courtyard gardens. _Ozoplaning_ begins in the Wizard's "big, brightly lighted laboratory," adding to the above a clock, a fireplace, and a hearth rug. And, "...Ozma's Chief Magician hastened over to the door that opened on the garden." Again, the courtyard. This exit is very close to the West passage, which the Wizard and his party probably used to leave the palace altogether. _Wonder City_ details the Wizard's Tower. Number Nine climbs up a long flight of spiral stairs, to see "nothing but a closed door" at the top. Stepping out of the door, the Wizard ushers in Number Nine, who "stepped into the room...the smallest and dingiest of any room in the palace. In each of the four walls was a battered old door... "The man (the Wizard) sat down and motioned Number Nine to another chair... "The man whistled, and immediately one of the doors opened, and a tray of food walked in on four silver legs." And "as Number Nine stood up, the east door opened by itself, and they went through it. "'This east room is my laboratory," said the little man... "The room was large and filled with all kinds of machinery, bottles, retorts, and tubes. The tubes were filled with bright-colored powders and bubbling liquids that filled the room with fragrant odors. There were also queer mirrors, and telescopes with automatic hands that focused and adjusted themselves, and endless gears and wheels, and enormous pendulums that swung rhythmically from the ceiling. "'First, we'll consult the Bureau of Missing Persons.' The little man went to a bureau at the side wall..." And later, "'Just step this way, to the west room, please." He led the way to another door. "They passed down a hall, and Number Nine stared at the crowded hooks and shelves there. He saw many wigs and masks, false faces, and false legs and arms, noses, and eyes of every color and size. And there were animal skins, and the wings of birds, bats, butterflies, and insects. Besides these, there were men's suits, frock coats in red, green, blue, purple, and yellow, and canes and high silk hats... "Next minute, Number Nine found himself standing in the west room...empty, except for a large and strange machine in the center. "'This is the teletable. It locates missing things and people.'" The little man began to turn some dials. ...The man went on explaining, "'The two main parts of this machine are the Compound Gazabo and the Goggle-Optics. With these, one can see and hear to the farthest star.'" "He pointed to another part, saying, 'And here is the Trumpet Eye.' After the Wizard explains its operation to Number Nine, he takes a seat in the corner. Later on he takes a long tube out of a closet in this west room. Ending his visit, Number Nine goes back to the dingy four- door room, and uses the South door, which "looked like any battered old door." "You may use the Ambassa-door" the Wizard explains, "...just stand before it and wish yourselves at the foot of the stairs." Which was easier on Number Nine than opening the door and stepping out, as one can see from the diagram of the laboratory that best fit Neill's description: WIZARD'S TOWER LABORATORY ILLO Further description Neill offers in _Scalawagons_ is essentially the same, adding a nagging clock, a cooperative shiny wastebasket, and a transom window(6) over the workshop door. In _Lucky Bucky_, the speaking image of Mombi forces open a small window to get into the tower laboratory. But -- like his Oz histories, Neill's account of the Wizard's tower may be highly exaggerated! 6. A small hinged window above a door or another window. Snow tones down the tower in _Magical Mimics_. He says: "High in the top of the tallest tower of the Royal Palace was the Wizard's apartment." Snow also uses French Windows: "Two sides of the room they (Dorothy and the Wizard) occupied were composed of tall French windows, rising from floor to the ceiling and opening onto a spacious veranda." With a great view of the entire Palace, and even the Emerald City. In _Shaggy Man_, the Wizard tells how Conjo captured his tower laboratory: "(Dorothy) accompanied me to the throne room. Just as we entered...the little man whisked past us...up the tower stairs...to my magic workroom." At this time, ALL the Wizard's magic equipment must have been in the tower, for Conjo's takeover renders the Wizard magicless. But Baum said the door led to the "small chamber." The solution? _Two_ doors, one to the chamber- corridor, and one to the tower. And so we end our tour of the Emerald City Palace. Future Oz historians need not take these diagrams too literally -- for instance, because of those "hundred towers and domes," and possible design quirks in the walls themselves, the Palace walls, inside and out, are likely NOT ruler-straight as shown. The suites need not be ruler-straight, either. These are _basic_ plans, unfinished, awaiting imaginative touches from other Oz Historians. The End