Watts Towers Research Paper
THE CONSERVATION OF
WATTS TOWER
1761-1765 East 107th Street
Watts, Los Angeles, California
Watts Towers
Treatment Start: 1978
Treatment: Ongoing
Frank Preusser, Senior scientist, LACMA
Conservator: Sara Dorsch
Type: Outdoor Yard Building
Media: Concrete Structure
Size:
Use: Historic Site
Owner: Cultural Affairs Department, Watts Towers Arts Center and tours
The Watts Towers, Towers of Simon Rodia, or Nuestro Pueblo ("our town"), are within the Simon Rodia State Historic Park, in the Watts community of Los Angeles, Southern California. They are a collection of 17 interconnected sculptural structures, the tallest reaching a height of over 99 feet (30 m). The towers and walls were designed and built by Italian immigrant construction …show more content…
The main supports are embedded with pieces of porcelain, tile, and glass. They are decorated with found objects, including bottles, ceramic tiles, sea shells, figurines, mirrors, and much, much more. Rodia called the Towers 'Nuestro Pueblo ' (which means 'our town ' in Spanish).
Rodia built his Tower’s with no special equipment or predetermined design, he worked alone with his hand tools. Neighborhood children brought pieces of broken pottery to Rodia, and he also used damaged pieces from the Malibu Pottery and CALCO (California Clay Products Company). 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
WATTS TOWER
1761-1765 East 107th Street
Watts, Los Angeles, California
Watts Towers
Treatment Start: 1978
Treatment: Ongoing
Frank Preusser, Senior scientist, LACMA
Conservator: Sara Dorsch
Type: Outdoor Yard Building
Media: Concrete Structure
Size:
Use: Historic Site
Owner: Cultural Affairs Department, Watts Towers Arts Center and tours
The Watts Towers, Towers of Simon Rodia, or Nuestro Pueblo ("our town"), are within the Simon Rodia State Historic Park, in the Watts community of Los Angeles, Southern California. They are a collection of 17 interconnected sculptural structures, the tallest reaching a height of over 99 feet (30 m). The towers and walls were designed and built by Italian immigrant construction …show more content…
The main supports are embedded with pieces of porcelain, tile, and glass. They are decorated with found objects, including bottles, ceramic tiles, sea shells, figurines, mirrors, and much, much more. Rodia called the Towers 'Nuestro Pueblo ' (which means 'our town ' in Spanish).
Rodia built his Tower’s with no special equipment or predetermined design, he worked alone with his hand tools. Neighborhood children brought pieces of broken pottery to Rodia, and he also used damaged pieces from the Malibu Pottery and CALCO (California Clay Products Company). 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