Monday, January 31, 2011

Mercury/ MyWorld

Mercury, Rochester, New York

I've just returned from spending a few days in Upstate New York where this sculpture of Mercury - the Roman god of commerce - is a landmark in the city of Rochester. Made in 1881 of riveted bronze plates, the statue was originally atop Kimball's Tobacco Factory, which later became the City Hall Annex and even later  a branch of the Rochester Public Library. (I don't think we recycle buildings the way we used to!) The statue was removed in the early 1950s when the Kimball's building was torn down.

Its second life atop a newer building

For more than two decades the 21-foot, 700-pound statue was kept in storage. Then in 1974, it was placed atop the structure now known as Aqueduct Building, one block north of its original location.



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46 comments:

Elisa N Viajes said...

Fantastic!
Have a nice week:)

eileeninmd said...

Wonderful statue! Glad it reappeared.

Jack said...

That is a pretty interesting biography for the statue. I am surprised by the artist's decision to leave the plates' welding showing without grinding it down. That is why they are artists and I am not . . .

Small City Scenes said...

this is great. I am glad they found use for him again. We shouldn't ;ose these historic items. good info too. MB

Leeds daily photo said...

Please that he found a home again, though quite why it took so long in storage before they could find somewhere suitable beats me. I recognised him, partly because he features on the badge of the Royal Signals and I served in the British military for 8 years.

Cezar and Léia said...

Mercury is magnificent!
Léia

Penelope Notes said...

Hard to believe this impressive heavy weight with wings would be kept in storage for such a long time. No doubt it takes a strong building to hold such a statue. I‘m glad it is out where it belongs ... high above the city crowds!

Halcyon said...

I'm glad it was not destroyed. It's a lovely piece!

Kate said...

It is good that the statue was preserved, even tho it was hidden from public view for so long.

Gattina said...

Oh gosh, I think I am sleeping, when I read Mercury I thought it was a statue of Freddy Mercury and wondered that it didn't look like him ! Lol !

Carver said...

I love the statue of mercury. Fascinating post.

cieldequimper said...

Positively makes me want to fly!

Lowell said...

Lovely photo of this cool statue! Great colors and your exposure was right on!

Obviously, you have a mercurial world! (I'll let your look that up to see what it means. Heh, heh! Of course, if you're smarter than I am, you already know!)

Maboe said...

Beautiful statue!

Sylvia K said...

Such a beautiful statue and I'm so glad it has been returned to "public life"! Interesting information and I always enjoy that as it gives me a chance to learn something I didn't know! Hope you have a wonderful week!

Sylvia

Animor said...

Its a beautiful statue, great idea to be viewed by the public.

Birdman said...

Mercury and his tale a favorite of mine. Love this one.

Jan said...

That's a great sculpture. I'm so glad it's on display again. Great photos for today.

VP said...

A great statue with a story, I'm glad it has a new location.

VioletSky said...

He has quite a history, and stands proudly watching over the city.

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

What an interesting history and I'm so glad that it's not still languishing away in storage -- it's too lovely and with too much history to hide. Thanks for sharing.

Yogi♪♪♪ said...

That's very cool. I love the patina of the scupture and am impressed by your research to get the story behind the statue.

Kay L. Davies said...

Glad they got it out of storage.
Very interesting post for MWT. Thanks!
-- K

Kay, Alberta, Canada
An Unfittie's Guide to Adventurous Travel

Marja said...

A beautiful sculpture like that has to be out there to be seen.

Marja said...

A beautiful sculpture like that has to be out there to be seen.

George said...

I think it wonderful that this statue was given a second home. It really is a pretty statue. Thanks for all the information about it.

RedPat said...

I love how the plates have been left visible! Glad that this wonderful piece has been saved.

Barbara said...

I am pleased the statue was taken out of storage and given a new place for all to see. It is well worth seeing.

Kathy said...

Love the sculpture. Love the zoom!

Kris McCracken said...

Mercury sure must be one busy bee!

Indrani said...

Good it is on display, looks grand.

Al said...

Great statue and nice photos!

Ann, Chen Jie Xue 陈洁雪 said...

one of our power energy company is called Mercury, with this logo. Now I know where it got it's name from.

Maude Lynn said...

What a cool statue!

Carol said...

Great shots of this statue. Nice to read the history behind it also.

Unknown said...

Hmmmm I love him, but I am not at all sure about his new resting place being in sympathy!

Ebie said...

very well preserved! It is a beautiful statue.

Anonymous said...

It's just lovely sitting up there. All too easy to miss though, if you don't look up.

Randy said...

How wonderful!

Mike B. @ slugyard.com said...

God of commerce? Did they have one for everything?

Martha Z said...

At least they put it back to use, that's good.

BraCom said...

Beautiful detail photo, nice statue

Have a nice week,
Greetings, Bram

Link to My Word Tuesday post!

Seen on My World Tuesday

Francisca said...

I didn't know (or remember) Mercury was the god of commerce... Unique sculpt; nice it survived the many moves and the period of hibernation. Super shots, too, EG.

stardust said...

Nice for Mercury to be displayed again in the fresh air.

Karen said...

Oh, cool statue. I am glad they recycled it.

42N said...

What a great idea! I wish they did so around here too.

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East Gwillimbury is a rural town less than an hour north of Toronto, Canada's largest city. My family calls me CameraGirl because I take my camera with me wherever I go.