Watts Towers
Encyclopedia
The Watts Towers or Towers of Simon Rodia in the Watts district of Los Angeles, California
, is a collection of 17 interconnected structures, two of which reach heights of over 99 feet (30 m). The Towers were built by Italian immigrant construction worker Sabato ("Sam" or "Simon") Rodia
in his spare time over a period of 33 years, from 1921 to 1954. The work is an example of non-traditional vernacular architecture
and American Naïve art
.
The Watts Towers are located near (and visible from) the 103rd Street-Kenneth Hahn Station
of the Metro Rail
LACMTA Blue Line
. They were designated a National Historic Landmark
in 1990.
The sculptures' armatures are constructed from steel
pipes and rods, wrapped with wire mesh and coated with mortar
. The main supports are embedded with pieces of porcelain
, tile, and glass. They are decorated with found objects
, including bed frames, bottles, ceramic tiles, scrap metal and sea shells. Rodia called the towers Nuestro Pueblo (which means "our town" in Spanish
). He built them with no special equipment or predetermined design, working alone with hand tools and window-washer's equipment. Neighborhood children brought pieces of broken glass and pottery to Rodia, some of which were added, but the majority of his material consisted of damaged pieces from the Malibu Pottery or CALCO (California Clay Products Company), located nearby. Green glass includes recognizable soft drink bottles from the 1930s through 1950s, some still bearing the former logos of 7 Up
, Squirt
, Bubble Up
, and Canada Dry
; blue glass appears to be from milk of magnesia bottles.
Rodia bent much of the Towers framework from scrap rebar
, using nearby railroad tracks as a makeshift vise. Other items came from alongside the Pacific Electric Railway
right of way between Watts and Wilmington. Rodia often walked the right of way all the way to Wilmington in search of material, a distance of nearly 20 miles (32 km).
Rodia reportedly did not get along with his neighbors, some of whom allowed their children to vandalize his work. Rumors that the towers were antennae for communicating with enemy Japanese forces or contained buried treasure caused suspicion and further vandalism.
In 1955, Rodia gave the property away and left, reportedly tired of the abuse he had received. He retired to Martinez, California
and never came back. He died a decade later.
condemned the structure and ordered it razed. Actor Nicholas King and a film editor William Cartwright
visited the site in 1959, saw the neglect, and purchased the property for $3,000 in order to preserve it. When the city found out about the transfer, it decided to perform the demolition before the transfer went through. The towers had already become famous and there was opposition from around the world. King, Cartwright, and museum curator Jim Elliott of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
, along with area architects, artists, and community activists formed the Committee for Simon Rodia's Towers in Watts. The Committee negotiated with the city to allow for an engineering test to establish the safety of the structures.
For the test, steel cable was attached to each tower and a crane was used to exert lateral force. The crane was unable to topple or even shift the towers with the forces applied, and the test was concluded when the crane experienced mechanical failure. Bud Goldstone and Edward Farrell were the engineer and architect leading the team.
The committee preserved the towers independently until 1975, when it deeded the site to the City of Los Angeles, which in turn deeded it to the State of California in 1978. It is now designated the Watts Towers of Simon Rodia State Historic Park. It is operated by the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department
in partnership with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
. In February 2011, LACMA announced that it had received a $500,000 grant from the James Irvine Foundation
to conserve and promote the Watts Towers.
The towers are one of nine folk art sites listed in the National Register of Historic Places
, and were designated a National Historic Landmark
in 1990.
in 1994, after which they were repaired and reopened in 2001. The towers were damaged during a 2000 windstorm and were closed to the public briefly until March 2011.
There is also damage from random acts of vandalism.
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, is a collection of 17 interconnected structures, two of which reach heights of over 99 feet (30 m). The Towers were built by Italian immigrant construction worker Sabato ("Sam" or "Simon") Rodia
Simon Rodia
Sabato "Simon" Rodia was an Italian-American architect. Rodia created the Watts Towers, one of the most famous landmarks in Los Angeles.-Biography:...
in his spare time over a period of 33 years, from 1921 to 1954. The work is an example of non-traditional vernacular architecture
Vernacular architecture
Vernacular architecture is a term used to categorize methods of construction which use locally available resources and traditions to address local needs and circumstances. Vernacular architecture tends to evolve over time to reflect the environmental, cultural and historical context in which it...
and American Naïve art
Naïve art
Naïve art is a classification of art that is often characterized by a childlike simplicity in its subject matter and technique. While many naïve artists appear, from their works, to have little or no formal art training, this is often not true...
.
The Watts Towers are located near (and visible from) the 103rd Street-Kenneth Hahn Station
103rd Street-Kenneth Hahn (LACMTA Station)
103rd Street-Kenneth Hahn is a station on the Los Angeles County Metro Blue Line.The station has an island platform on the Blue Line right-of-way adjacent to Grandee Avenue near the intersection of 103rd Street roughly in the center of Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, California.The station is...
of the Metro Rail
Los Angeles County Metro Rail
Metro Rail is the rapid transit rail system consisting of five separate lines serving 70 stations in the Los Angeles County, California area. The new Expo line is due to enter service in early 2012. It connects with the Metro liner bus rapid transit system and also with the Metrolink commuter...
LACMTA Blue Line
LACMTA Blue Line
The Blue Line is a light rail line running north-south route between Long Beach and downtown Los Angeles passing through Downtown LA, including South Los Angeles, Watts, Willowbrook, Compton, and Long Beach in the Los Angeles County; it is one of five lines in the Metro Rail System...
. They were designated a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
in 1990.
Design and construction
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
pipes and rods, wrapped with wire mesh and coated with mortar
Mortar (masonry)
Mortar is a workable paste used to bind construction blocks together and fill the gaps between them. The blocks may be stone, brick, cinder blocks, etc. Mortar becomes hard when it sets, resulting in a rigid aggregate structure. Modern mortars are typically made from a mixture of sand, a binder...
. The main supports are embedded with pieces of porcelain
Porcelain
Porcelain is a ceramic material made by heating raw materials, generally including clay in the form of kaolin, in a kiln to temperatures between and...
, tile, and glass. They are decorated with found objects
Found art
The term found art—more commonly found object or readymade—describes art created from undisguised, but often modified, objects that are not normally considered art, often because they already have a non-art function...
, including bed frames, bottles, ceramic tiles, scrap metal and sea shells. Rodia called the towers Nuestro Pueblo (which means "our town" in Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
). He built them with no special equipment or predetermined design, working alone with hand tools and window-washer's equipment. Neighborhood children brought pieces of broken glass and pottery to Rodia, some of which were added, but the majority of his material consisted of damaged pieces from the Malibu Pottery or CALCO (California Clay Products Company), located nearby. Green glass includes recognizable soft drink bottles from the 1930s through 1950s, some still bearing the former logos of 7 Up
7 Up
7 Up is a brand of a lemon-lime flavored non-caffeinated soft drink. The rights to the brand are held by Dr Pepper Snapple Group in the United States, and PepsiCo in the rest of the world, including Puerto Rico, where the concentrate is manufactured at the Pepsi facility in Cidra...
, Squirt
Squirt
Squirt is a caffeine-free, citrus-flavored, carbonated soft drink, created in 1938 in Phoenix, Arizona.- History :Squirt was created by Herb Bishop in 1938, after experimenting with a similar citrus drink, Citrus Club. He created a new, carbonated drink which required both less fruit juice and less...
, Bubble Up
Bubble Up
Bubble Up is a lemon-lime soda pop brand created in 1919, by Sweet Valley Products Co. of Sandusky, Ohio. Bubble Up is manufactured by The Dad's Root Beer Company, LLC and owned by Hedinger Brands, LLC for the U.S., Canada and Mexico, and by Monarch Beverage Company of Atlanta for international...
, and Canada Dry
Canada Dry
Canada Dry is a brand of soft drinks owned since 2008 by the Texas-based Dr Pepper Snapple Group. For over a century Canada Dry has been known for its ginger ale, though the company also manufactures a number of other soft drinks and mixers...
; blue glass appears to be from milk of magnesia bottles.
Rodia bent much of the Towers framework from scrap rebar
Rebar
A rebar , also known as reinforcing steel, reinforcement steel, rerod, or a deformed bar, is a common steel bar, and is commonly used as a tensioning device in reinforced concrete and reinforced masonry structures holding the concrete in compression...
, using nearby railroad tracks as a makeshift vise. Other items came from alongside the Pacific Electric Railway
Pacific Electric Railway
The Pacific Electric Railway , also known as the Red Car system, was a mass transit system in Southern California using streetcars, light rail, and buses...
right of way between Watts and Wilmington. Rodia often walked the right of way all the way to Wilmington in search of material, a distance of nearly 20 miles (32 km).
Rodia reportedly did not get along with his neighbors, some of whom allowed their children to vandalize his work. Rumors that the towers were antennae for communicating with enemy Japanese forces or contained buried treasure caused suspicion and further vandalism.
In 1955, Rodia gave the property away and left, reportedly tired of the abuse he had received. He retired to Martinez, California
Martinez, California
Martinez is a city and the county seat of Contra Costa County, California, United States. The population was 35,824 at the 2010 census. The downtown is notable for its large number of preserved old buildings...
and never came back. He died a decade later.
After Rodia
The property changed hands, Rodia's bungalow inside the enclosure was burned down, and the city of Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
condemned the structure and ordered it razed. Actor Nicholas King and a film editor William Cartwright
William Cartwright (film editor)
William T. "Bill" Cartwright Sr. is an American television and film director, producer and editor responsible for a number of documentaries. He was nominated for 5 Emmys Emmy Awards in 1978 and 1997 and won three. He edited "Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision" which won an Oscar. He also has many...
visited the site in 1959, saw the neglect, and purchased the property for $3,000 in order to preserve it. When the city found out about the transfer, it decided to perform the demolition before the transfer went through. The towers had already become famous and there was opposition from around the world. King, Cartwright, and museum curator Jim Elliott of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is an art museum in Los Angeles, California. It is located on Wilshire Boulevard along Museum Row in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles, adjacent to the George C. Page Museum and La Brea Tar Pits....
, along with area architects, artists, and community activists formed the Committee for Simon Rodia's Towers in Watts. The Committee negotiated with the city to allow for an engineering test to establish the safety of the structures.
For the test, steel cable was attached to each tower and a crane was used to exert lateral force. The crane was unable to topple or even shift the towers with the forces applied, and the test was concluded when the crane experienced mechanical failure. Bud Goldstone and Edward Farrell were the engineer and architect leading the team.
The committee preserved the towers independently until 1975, when it deeded the site to the City of Los Angeles, which in turn deeded it to the State of California in 1978. It is now designated the Watts Towers of Simon Rodia State Historic Park. It is operated by the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department
City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department
The City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department is the official Los Angeles, California, USA arts council.The agency approves the design of structures built on or over City property and accepts works of art to be acquired by the City...
in partnership with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is an art museum in Los Angeles, California. It is located on Wilshire Boulevard along Museum Row in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles, adjacent to the George C. Page Museum and La Brea Tar Pits....
. In February 2011, LACMA announced that it had received a $500,000 grant from the James Irvine Foundation
James Irvine Foundation
The James Irvine Foundation is a philanthropic nonprofit organization established to benefit the people of California. It seeks to promote social equity and enrich the cultural and civic life of America’s most populous state through its grants in three areas: the arts, youth and education, and...
to conserve and promote the Watts Towers.
The towers are one of nine folk art sites listed in the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
, and were designated a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
in 1990.
Damage
The structures suffered minor damage in the Northridge earthquakeNorthridge earthquake
The Northridge earthquake was a massive earthquake that occurred on January 17, 1994, at 04:31 Pacific Standard Time in Reseda, a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California, lasting for about 10–20 seconds...
in 1994, after which they were repaired and reopened in 2001. The towers were damaged during a 2000 windstorm and were closed to the public briefly until March 2011.
There is also damage from random acts of vandalism.
Watts Towers Arts Center
The Watts Towers Arts Center is an adjacent community arts center that was opened in 1970. The center was built and staffed by the non-profit Committee for Simon Rodia's Towers in Watts. The two tallest towers are 97 and 99 feet tall.People and places
- Antoni GaudíAntoni GaudíAntoni Gaudí i Cornet was a Spanish Catalan architect and figurehead of Catalan Modernism. Gaudí's works reflect his highly individual and distinctive style and are largely concentrated in the Catalan capital of Barcelona, notably his magnum opus, the Sagrada Família.Much of Gaudí's work was...
, a CatalanCatalan peopleThe Catalans or Catalonians are the people from, or with origins in, Catalonia that form a historical nationality in Spain. The inhabitants of the adjacent portion of southern France are sometimes included in this definition...
architect with a similar style, particularly La Sagrada FamíliaSagrada FamiliaThe ' , commonly known as the Sagrada Família, is a large Roman Catholic church in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí...
in BarcelonaBarcelonaBarcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
. - Qutub MinarQutub MinarQutub Minar also Qutb Minar, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Located in Delhi, India. The Qutub Minar is constructed with red sandstone and marble, and is the tallest minaret in India, with a height of 72.5 meters , contains 379 stairs to reach the top, and the diameter of base is 14.3 meters...
, including a similarly shaped ancient Indian tower. - Baldasare Forestiere, another Italian immigrant in California born the same year as Rodia who built the Forestiere Underground GardensForestiere Underground GardensForestiere Underground Gardens Located at 5021 West Shaw Avenue in Fresno, California are an unusual manmade creation built by Baldasare Forestiere, an immigrant from Sicily, over a period of 40 years from 1906 to until his death in 1946. The gardens, while subterranean, have many skylights and...
. - Hermit HouseHermit HouseHermit House is a spectacular though unconventional example of vernacular architecture in a similar vein to the Watts Towers. The earthen residence is situated on a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean near the Sidna Ali Mosque in Herzliya, Israel...
, a unique residence located in HerzliyaHerzliyaHerzliya is a city in the central coast of Israel, at the western part of the Tel Aviv District. It has a population of 87,000 residents. Named after Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism, Herzliya covers an area of 26 km²...
, IsraelIsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, with intricate mosaics entirely constructed by one man over thirty years. - Bishop CastleBishop CastleBishop Castle started as a family construction project situated in the Wet Mountains of Southern Colorado in the San Isabel National Forest located North West of Rye, Colorado...
, a massive stone castle hand built by Jim Bishop near Rye, ColoradoRye, ColoradoRye is a Statutory Town in Pueblo County, Colorado, United States. It is part of the Pueblo, Colorado Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 202 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Rye is located at ....
. - Mystery CastleMystery CastleMystery Castle is located in the city of Phoenix, Arizona, in the foothills of South Mountain Park. It was built in the 1930s by Boyce Luther Gulley for his daughter Mary Lou Gulley. After learning he had tuberculosis, Gulley moved from Seattle, Washington, to the Phoenix area and began building...
, a house in Phoenix, ArizonaPhoenix, ArizonaPhoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
, built in the 1930s in a similar style. - Nitt Witt RidgeNitt Witt RidgeNitt Witt Ridge is a house on two-and-a-half-acres in Cambria, California, located at 881 Hillcrest Dr, Cambria Pines. Artist/recluse Arthur "Art" Harold Beal Nitt Witt Ridge is a house on two-and-a-half-acres in Cambria, California, located at 881 Hillcrest Dr, Cambria Pines. Artist/recluse...
, a house in Cambria, CaliforniaCambria, CaliforniaCambria is a seaside village located midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles on the California State Route 1 . The name Cambria was settled upon in 1869 .It is a census-designated place in San Luis Obispo County, California, United States...
, constructed in a similar style. - Rubel CastleRubel CastleRubel Castle was established in Glendora, California, by Michael Clarke Rubel . It has been called "a San Gabriel Valley version of Watts Towers.”...
, a house in Glendora, CaliforniaGlendora, CaliforniaGlendora is a municipality in Los Angeles County, California, United States, east of downtown Los Angeles. As of the 2010 census, the population of Glendora was 50,073....
, constructed in a similar style. - Ferdinand ChevalFerdinand ChevalFerdinand Cheval was a French postman who spent thirty-three years of his life building Le Palais Idéal in Hauterives...
, a French postman who constructed an "ideal palace" out of rocks in his spare time. - Rock Garden, Chandigarh, a rock garden built completely out of thrown-away items. The project was secretly initiated by Nek ChandNek ChandNek Chand Saini is an Indian self-taught artist, famous for building the Rock Garden of Chandigarh, an eighteen acre sculpture garden in the city of Chandigarh, India....
. - Justo Gallego MartínezJusto Gallego MartínezJusto Gallego Martínez is a former monk who has been erecting a cathedral-like building in the Spanish village of Mejorada del Campo since 1961.-Life and inspiration:...
, a Spaniard who built his own cathedral. - Edward JamesEdward JamesEdward William Frank James was a British poet known for his patronage of the surrealist art movement.-Early life and marriage:...
, surrealist poet inspired by Rodia. James built Las Pozas in Mexico. - Valerio RicettiValerio RicettiValerio Ricetti was an Italian-Australian hermit who lived mainly in a cave in the Griffith area for a period of 23 years. Working only at night and in the early morning hours so that he would not be seen, he turned the cave into his own private "utopia" complete with kitchen, chapel, landscaping,...
, an Italian immigrant in Australia who built the Hermit's CaveHermit's CaveThe Hermit's Cave, situated on Scenic Hill on the outskirts of the town of Griffith, New South Wales, Australia, is in fact a complex of stone structures covering an area of 16 hectares....
. - Wharton EsherickWharton EsherickWharton Esherick was a sculptor who worked primarily in wood. He reveled in applying the principles of sculpture to common utilitarian objects. Consequently he is best known for his sculptural furniture and furnishings...
, an American sculptor who built the Wharton Esherick StudioWharton Esherick StudioWharton Esherick Studio, now housing the Wharton Esherick Museum, was the studio of the craftsman-artist Wharton Esherick , in Malvern, Pennsylvania...
. - Coral CastleCoral CastleCoral Castle is a stone structure created by the Latvian American eccentric Edward Leedskalnin north of the city of Homestead, Florida in Miami-Dade County at the intersection of South Dixie Highway and West 157th Avenue. The structure comprises numerous megalithic stones , each weighing several...
, a stone artwork and residence built in Homestead, FloridaHomestead, FloridaHomestead is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States nestled between Biscayne National Park to the east and Everglades National Park to the west. Homestead is primarily a Miami suburb and a major agricultural area....
.
Lists
- List of Registered Historic Places in Los Angeles.
- List of Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments in South Los Angeles.
External links
- I Build the Tower, a feature-length documentary film about Simon Rodia and the Watts Towers
- The official website dedicated entirely to Simon Rodia's Watts Towers and their impact on international art
- KCET Life & Times. History of the Towers
- Official State Park Website
- Spherical panoramas of Rodia's work
- Most Everything That Ever Mentioned, Showed, Documented or Featured the Watts Towers
- The Towers, A 1957 documentary
- Rodia's Watts Towers Photodocumentary with ruins of Rodia's house, plus surprising new biographical information
- Library of Congress: America's Memory
- The Watts Towers of Simon Rodia A feature on Unusual Travel Destinations
- Watts Towers on Great Buildings www.greatbuildings.com