The Griffith Observatory was created using a design developed by architects John C. Austin and Frederick M. Ashley based on preliminary sketches by Russell W. Porter.
The Griffith Observatory was created using a design developed by architects John C. Austin and Frederick M. Ashley based on preliminary sketches by Russell W. Porter.
View of Robert A. Millikan speaking at the dedication of the Griffith Observatory. Millikan is standing at a podium in front of the art deco bronze panels at the entrance to the observatory. The ornament on the panels features planetarium-themed motifs. At this time Millikan was Chair of the Executive Council at Caltech.
View of Maxwell K. Baughman looking through the twelve-inch (305 mm) Zeiss refracting telescope in the east dome of the newly constructed Griffith Observatory. Baughman, a technician at the Griffith Planetarium, worked with Paul Lange, a planetarium expert from Jena Germany, to install the telescope from September 1934 to January 1935.
View of the skeleton of steel girders of the central planetarium dome of the Griffith Observatory resting on the poured concrete base during construction. Wooden supports for the concrete molds are visible on the left of the base.
Bird's-eye view of the Griffith Observatory facing south towards the straight line of Los Feliz Boulevard in the distance. The observatory appears to be in the final phase of completion, with the Astronomers Monument in place but with the parts of the walkway and the south end of E. Observatory Avenue unpaved.
Exterior view of the south face of the west telescope dome during landscaping and the final phase of construction with wheel barrows at the base of the tower beneath the exterior staircase to the roof. The original concrete surface is visible; consistent with other similar architecture of the day, the Observatory's concrete walls were left unpainted in the 1930s and 1940s.
Oblique exterior view of the south faces of the west and central domes of the Griffith Observatory from the west-south-west during the final phase of construction. Signs of construction include a tall ladder resting against a buttress of the central dome, wheel barrows next to the west dome and a pile of dirt in the foreground. The original concrete surface is visible; consistent with other similar architecture of the day, the Observatory's concrete walls were left unpainted in the 1930s and 1940s.
The Griffith Observatory was created using a design developed by architects John C. Austin and Frederick M. Ashley based on preliminary sketches by Russell W. Porter.