Randall's Urban Architectural Sculptures

After getting the shipment of 1000# of clay today, I started this new model of a collegiate gothic styled education symbol panel after one on Public School 27 which was demolished in 1976. PS 27 was built in 1906 and was located next door, West of the Daily News building on East 42nd st, NYC. CBJ Snyder was the architect.

The school was originally slated to be demolished in 1929, when it was only 23 years old! but the stock market crash forced plans for the site to vanish into thin air.

The model features a heavy bold frame reminiscent of the heavy frames used on large old oil paintings. Designed in collegiate gothic style, it frames the familiar education symbol’s open book, laurel leaf wreath and torch used by Universities, schools, libraries and other institutions of learning.

The symbol is used by the Board of Education, City of New York, and
this particular design is inspired by one used on PS 27, and other public schools in New York City.

FInished size of the panel should be about 23″ x 26″ and will be available in interior cast stone and concrete.
Inquiries are invited.

Here’s a series of 6 Art Deco panels made for a restored Art Deco theater in Dell Rapids, S.D. The panels will be installed in the lobby with 3 new poster display cases.

I needed to cut 4 of the panels down to fit the allotted space, an inch off the left and right sides as trimmed off.
As the theater is newly restored and cleaned, we decided a slightly toned down nickel/silver rather than my dirty nickel finish would be appropriate, “new” looking to blend with the rest, but having a toned down look with an ever so slight age.
I think they should blend in quite nicely.

When I say “interior cast stone” v/s concrete versions, sometimes this might be confusing, so I thought I would illustrait what I mean and define it.

By “interior” this can include a covered porch or entry as well as your livingroom, with this version of my work I use a variety of interior paints, stains and other media to get an aged look. These are just fine under a covered porch, sun and freezing cold doesn’t bother them at all.

However, placing an interior cast stone out in the garden, keep in mind that rain will be soaking it, snow, ice and if laid on the ground they absorb moisture. The first thing that would happen is the interior paints would come off after some time, then when the finish is gone the rain and snow goes to work on the matrix of the sculpture itself.

Below is a photo of an experiment I did placing 2 interior pieces right out on the ground in the rain and weather about 5 years ago.
The one on the left is my Public School gargoyle head No 168, as you can see the rain and wind has created an interesting aged “sandblasted” look like the rocks in the desert of Nevada or Utah;

The one on the right is a section of Art Deco panel 8B, it is in better shape, and this all took about 5 years in Midwest harsh weather to accomplish.

Exterior concrete will not do this, that is why I use concrete for exterior casts, and it gets a special acid stain FOR concrete which does not fade, or peel in the weather.

So I let clients choose, if you wish to place an interior piece outdoors for some reason, order the Old Limestone Grey finish, and maybe apply some Thompson’s water seal to it once a year, and it should do just fine for at least several years at least, more so if placed so heavy rain doesn’t pound down on it as happened to the 168 head.

But for long life, choose concrete for the garden.

Westminster kennel club medal, 1909.
Sterling silver, made by Whinng Mfg Co, New York (rim stamp)

Won by a Wire hair fox terrior “Hillcrest Frazzle”, owned by Charles W. Keyes, East Pepperell, Mass.

Westminster kennel club medal, 1911.
Sterling silver, made by Whinng Mfg Co, New York (rim stamp)

Won by a Wire hair fox terrior “Hillcrest Flakes”, owned by Charles W. Keyes, East Pepperell, Mass.

Purchased for $99 each

Keyes apparently was the Vice President in 1904 of the Pepperell Farmers and Mechanics Club” in Pepperell Mass. His name also appears on the board in a 1906 American Kennel Club bi-laws document.

Ok, I decided to photoshop the design a bit, and came up with 2 variations of it, I like both but I think I like version 2 on the right best.
These are just very quickly done photoshop clips to get an idea, the borders would be mitered in the corners not overlapping as shown.

Having a wider border though means a larger panel to get the central design of a reasonable size, but I’ll have to play around with the scale and see what size I come up with that balances size/look with weight.

See which variation you like best!

I will be ordering another half ton of clay very soon after I finish some major kitchen renovations.
I will be looking again at some ideas I put aside for new models, besides a book-torch symbol panel, I may make a small version of this massive cornice from the 1918 Commodore Hotel;

The face I believe is a representation of a sun-god, it also has some familiar elements with the mouth shape that reminds me strongly of the comedy/tragedy theater mask designs. The Commodore Hotel stood on 42nd street next to Grand Central Station but was stripped to it’s steel frame and Donald Trump’s glass monstrosity of a facade replaced it in 1980.
The interior was totally gutted as well.
The cornice mask appears in a picture book on architectural ornaments. There were about 180 copper masks made, a number of them were salvaged, an unknown number were destroyed.
I bought mine a couple of years ago for $2700, a residence sized reduced scale version of this would be very interesting and dramatic looking on the wall. The cost would be quite affordable, and I would use my old green patina finish for this which I used many years ago, maybe with a minor updating to it ,I think it would look stunning.

Commodore hotel page

These were made in sections and riveted and soldered together.
Each mask was made in multiple pieces stamped out on a large pressing machine. The pieces were made by creating steel plates, a positive and a negative plate for the design, which meshed together but leaving a slight space between them in the design area. When the copper sheets were placed on the press between the plates, many tons of pressure were applied and the soft copper was forced into the shape and design.
Removed from the bed plate and trimmed to size and shape, each piece was hand assembled into the mask and the masks riveted and soldered to the backing sections.
Although it could technically be done, it would be all but impossible to produce these today due to the extremely prohibitive costs involved in producing the multiple pairs of steel plates required!

Some idea of how it’s done can be seen here;

A couple of recent ones say it all;

One of the most unique and professional sellers I have met A+++++
(jim, Tennessee)

Incredibly gifted artist who knows how to work w you. Excellent shipper too! A+
(Connie, Miami beach, Fla)

I’ve seen these spandrel panels quite often when passing this former library and always thought some time along I’d bring a camera and get some photos, and see if maybe I will make a model of this.
If any clients have an interest in something of this nature, feel free to drop me an email through my contact form on the main page.

Now that I have a few photos, here is one;

It measures about 26″ by 21″, I didn’t measure it but estimated the size from comparing the approximate nominal size of 2″ high and 8″ long for the bricks.

This might be better in a smaller version.

The panel is a little different version of a typical education motif like this used on schools, universities and libraries, the one’s I’ve seen over the years typically have 1 torch behind the open book, these have 2 along with a crest having the initials “C L” and 2 additional letter “C’s” near the bottom on the ribbons.
The torch, or torches in this case, along with the open book, represent knowledge and enlightenment. A book represents science, culture, education and development.

It’s a classic age-old design that has endured for a long time, and is considered an enduring education symbol much like the caduceus has long been associated with the medical arts. The caduceus can be found on hospitals, medical buildings, nursing schools etc.

This particular library was decommissioned with the erection of a new larger facility, and this building was converted into a historical museum which is a fitting use for it.
The library was built between 1900 and 1906, and fund raising was not entirely successful until Andrew Carnegie donated $10,000 to the fund to build the building.
Carnegie was a major philanthropist who donated funds like this to hundreds of small towns if not more, to build public libraries.
Most of the buildings would probably not have been built without his donations. Most of these buildings are very small by today’s standards, and they are becoming somewhat obsolete because of space limitations, the lack of handicap access, and their lack of electrical and other utilities to run today’s computer banks and other equipment never dreamed of when they were wired up for the lighting requirements of the era.

Another version I am considering is this one from PS 27, 1906 with a single torch. The school was next door to the NY Daily News building on 42nd street. It was demolished winter of 1976 when the land became more valuable than ever.
The school was almost demolished around 1929 after only 23 years! but the stock market crash prevented plans to do that. In the end unfortunately, this attractive 5 story collegiate gothic school which survived the crash of ’29 fell to increased land values, and an office building took it’s place.

I think I like this one better now that I see them side by side. I could continue the gothic border design around the sides and bottom to complete that, and square it all out.
This was sold many years ago and was quite large, about 36″ across and carved limestone.

More on the school with photos here;

PS 27

More on the FORUM

A fellow on flickr found a building on Clinton street with 4 of these roundels like mine, but this one has a totally different border!

Image courtesy of

http://www.flickr.com/photos/elswatchoboracho/

Interestingly enough I found another round medallion, this one is 21″ across and glazed terra cotta.
The seller has story about it but it seems somewhat dubious.
He claimed it came from a ww2 bombed building in Europe and the guy he got it from brought it back with him as a memento and had it in his garden all this time.
He was going to use it in his rec room but it unnerves his wife and she wants it gone lol.
He said he thought it was lucifer from a St Michael slays the devil theme, but I don’t know, every such depiction Ive seen there is always the 2 figures, St Michael with the sword standing on the devil laying prone.

This figure seems far too “tame”, too “dressed” in clothing to be a depiction of lucifer, and being a sole portrait makes it more doubtful it’s a St Michael related theme.

It does seem to have 2 horns, but it looks a lot like he is wearing a helmet of some kind, so its possible the “horns” are part of that, or maybe its a depiction of Pan, who had horns and was a common motiff, anyway, I got it for only $400 so that’s not bad at all, but the crate and shipping on top was $278.08, it’s 104# and in the crate it was 130#

Raised numbers on the top edge say 25196DP2 which is the same system we used here in the states for numbering these types of sculptures, so that makes it even less likely to have come from Europe, but I suppose the UK is possible. Any other country bombed during WW2 such as Germany, France, Poland would have used their own system, or else their numbers and lettering style would have been different.
It also seems too clean, even inside, to have been sitting in someone’s garden for 50 years, it also had some residue that I could tell was the wax based plasticene I use in mold making, looking closer it is obvious a mold was made off this as the damaged areas had some red-brown plasticene clay residue, as did the circumference of the edge.
But I have the ORIGINAL antique, from where ever it originated, I would date it to circa 1915-1920 due to the typical white glaze on buff yellow clay. That’s another clue it probably never came from Europe, the exact same kind/color clay used here for glazed pieces like this would be an amazing coincidence to also have been used in some European country.