Preservation of Watts Towers, 1921-2021

By Mark Gilberg

In 1921, an Italian immigrant named Sabato Rodia purchased a property in Watts, California, and started building a series of sculptures and decorative features in his backyard, including three open, pyramidal-shaped towers – two of which are nearly 100 feet tall.  Though Rodia referred to his creation as Nuestro Pueblo (Our Town), today, it is known collectively as the Watts Towers. Constructed over 35 years, Watts Towers remains a marvel of structural engineering and architecture and is widely recognized as one of the finest examples of “outsider art” or “land-based” art in the United States. Rodia abandoned his property in 1954 never to return. Over the years Watts Towers has experienced a long history of vandalism and neglect punctuated by major conservation campaigns and interventions.  This book describes in great detail the history of these preservation efforts with a view to collecting and synthesizing all available information into one coherent study.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Outskirts Press
• Release date: Sep 14, 2023
• ISBN: 9781977269638

Mark Gilberg

Mark Gilberg received his BS and MSc degrees in inorganic chemistry from Stanford University and his Ph.D. in archaeological conservation from the University of London Institute of Archaeology. In 1983, he joined the Canadian Conservation Institute as a conservation scientist, and in 1987 he was appointed scientific officer in the Materials Conservation Division of the Australian Museum, Sydney, Australia. From 1994 to 2003. Dr. Gilberg was Research Director at the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training, an office of the National Park Service based in Natchitoches, Louisiana, which focuses on the application of science and technology to historic preservation. In 2005, he was appointed Director of the Conservation Center at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and supervised collection management and art preparation staff. Dr. Gilberg retired from LACMA in 2022 after serving as project manager for the restoration of Watts Towers from 2019-2021. 

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Preservation of Watts Towers, 1921-2021

All Rights Reserved.

Copyright © 2023 Mark Gilberg

v6.0

The opinions expressed in this manuscript are solely the opinions of the author and do not represent the opinions or thoughts of the publisher. The author has represented and warranted full ownership and/or legal right to publish all the materials in this book.

This book may not be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in whole or in part by any means, including graphic, electronic, or mechanical without the express written consent of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Cover Image: The Watts Towers, 2015, graphite on paper, 13 1/2 x 20 (Christina Angela Fisher). All rights reserved - used with permission.

Back Cover Image: Tom Wills site plan, circa 1967. Mae Babitz Watts records, Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA. All rights reserved - used with permission.

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PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Sabato Rodia

Watts Towers

Cultural and Historical Significance

Site

Sculptures

West, Center, and East Towers

A and B Towers

Ship

Pond or Fish Pond

Garden Spire (Pinnacles)

Oven/Barbecue

Canopy and Front Gate

Gazebo

House and Chimney

North and South Walls

Floor (Patio Floor)

Overheads

Chronology of construction

Construction

Methods and materials

Mortar

Decorative Elements

History of preservation, maintenance, and repair

Committee for Simon Rodia’s Towers in Watts (1959-1975)

City of Los Angeles (1975-1979)

State of California (1979-1985)

City of Los Angeles (1985-2010)

Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2010-2022)

Condition survey

Photographic survey

X-radiography survey

Thermographic survey

Measured building survey

Floor survey

Failed crack repairs

Loss of decorative elements

Testing of repair materials and methods

Conservation of the Ship

Conservation of the West, Center, and East Towers

Conclusions

References

Acknowledgments

INTRODUCTION

In 1921, an Italian immigrant named Sabato (Sam or Simon) Rodia purchased a property in Watts, California, and started building a series of sculptures and decorative features in his backyard, including three open, pyramidal-shaped towers – two of which are nearly 100 feet tall (figure 1). Though Rodia referred to his creation as Nuestro Pueblo (Our Town), today, it is known collectively as the Watts Towers or The Towers. Constructed over 35 years, Watts Towers remains a marvel of structural engineering and architecture and is widely recognized as one of the finest examples of outsider art or land-based art in the United States.

Figure 1 Aerial view of Watts Towers from the south, 2019. Photograph Conservation Center/LACMA. Courtesy Museum Associates/Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Rodia abandoned his property in 1954, and, from that point on, Watts Towers has experienced a long history of vandalism and neglect punctuated by major conservation campaigns and interventions that introduced new repair materials and significantly altered the original appearance of the sculptures. Many of these conservation efforts were poorly documented at the time and existed primarily as unpublished reports, surveys, and correspondence in various archives and governmental departments. Furthermore, many of the original documents are missing, leaving only black and white photocopies of what once were color images.

In many respects, Watts Towers is a shadow of what it once was, although its presence and stature as a preeminent work of art and feat of engineering remain unchallenged. This review will attempt to collect and synthesize all available information into one coherent document to increase our understanding of the changes Watts Towers has undergone over the years and thus better inform future preservation efforts. Hopefully, this study will also dispel many myths associated with its creation, in light of all the antidotal information surrounding its history. It also presents a unique opportunity to address issues in terms of interpreting, documenting, and exhibiting monumental art that has undergone significant changes and loss of original, character-defining features.

SABATO RODIA

Very little is known about the early life of Sabato Rodia (figure 2). He was born in Rivottoli, a small village outside Serino, near Nola, in Italy’s Campania region, on February 12, 1879 (Goldstone 1963a). At age 15, he immigrated to the United States, and started working with his brother in the coal mines of Pennsylvania. Following the death of his brother in a mining accident, he moved to Seattle and, in 1902, married Lucia Ucci, an Italian immigrant. Several years later, they moved to Oakland, California, where his three children were born. During this period, Rodia saved enough money to bring his sister and her family from Pennsylvania, and they settled in nearby Martinez, CA. In 1912, Sabato and Lucia divorced, and Rodia moved to El Paso, Texas, where he married his second wife, Benita Chacon, a woman of Mexican descent. They later moved to Long Beach, California, to a small house at 1216 Euclid Avenue, where Rodia built several highly decorated planters, a stationary merry-go-round, and a fish pond. These small sculptures, constructed from reinforced masonry, foreshadowed Rodia’s construction of Watts Towers.

Figure 2 Family portrait of Sabato Rodia. Photographer unknown, circa 1900. Courtesy of SPACES – Saving and Preserving Arts and Cultural Environments.

Sabato and Benita divorced in 1918, and Rodia moved to Watts, which, at the time, was a small unincorporated neighborhood in South Central Los Angeles. He purchased a small, two-room house on a triangular-shaped lot on 107th Street, adjacent to the Pacific Electric Railway’s Red Car service between Los Angeles and Long Beach. During his first few years in Watts, Rodia lived with a third woman named Carmen. His obsession with Watts Towers soon led to Carmen’s departure, who reportedly took all his belongings and was never seen again. For the next 33 years, Rodia lived alone, building and maintaining his sculptures while working as a tile setter and laborer. In 1954, he abruptly gifted his property to his neighbor and moved to Martinez, California, to be near his sister. Never to return to Watts, Rodia lived alone in a boarding house until his death on July 12, 1965.

WATTS TOWERS

The Watts Towers is located within the Simon Rodia State Historic Park in South Central Los Angeles in the City of Watts. It is a collection of interconnected, steel-framed structures covered with mortar embedded with various found materials. The site consists of a number of interconnected sculptures colloquially referred to as the A and B Towers, West Tower, Center Tower, East Tower, Ship, Barbeque, Garden Spire, Gazebo, North Wall, South Wall, Floor, Garden Spire, Chimney, Fish Pond, House, and Canopy (figure 3). It is not known how Rodia referred to the individual sculptures, although it is doubtful he used such terminology. The National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination Form submitted in 1977 references eight towers – three principal towers and five smaller ones (National Park Service 1977). The 1990 National Historic Landmark Nomination, however, references 11 contributing structures, but mentions only the East, Center, and West Towers, Gazebo, Ship Structure, House (with Canopy), and the Walls (including the Pond).

Figure 3 Site plan of Watts Towers with current terminology for labeling sculptures (Gilberg et al 2023).

Why Rodia built Watts Towers remains a mystery to this day. When asked this question, he frequently said he wished to do something big (Goldstone and Goldstone 1997). It is widely believed he drew his inspiration from the Festa dei Gigli (Festival or Lilies), a Catholic festival held in the town of Nola, near Naples, which Rodia may have seen as a child (Avella 1999). The festival commemorates the return of St Paulinus, the Bishop of Nola, who sold himself into slavery in North Africa to rescue Nola citizens from the same fate. Upon his return by boat, the town citizens greeted him with lilies. Today, these lilies are represented by eight, 25-meter tall wooden spires carried by teams of men through the streets of Nola. Another tower carries a boat, representing the one St. Paulinus took back to Nola. It is not hard to imagine the young Rodia being captivated by this sight and drawing inspiration from it in constructing Watts Towers (figure 4).

Figure 4 Festa dei Gigli (Festival of Lilies) in Nola, Italy, 2011.

Photograph Rosie Lee Hooks. Courtesy Rosie Lee Hooks.

In 1954, at the age of 75, Rodia ceased working on Watts Towers, deeded his property to a neighbor, Louis Sauceda, and moved to Martinez, California, to live near his sister (Herr 2004). Not long thereafter, his house was destroyed by fire. It is unclear why Rodia left, although there is speculation that he suffered a mild stroke, which caused him to fall, and realized he could no longer maintain his creation. By all accounts, Sauceda remained disinterested in the property, which was unoccupied and began to suffer from vandalism. In 1956, he sold the property to another neighbor, Joseph Montoya, who had aspirations of turning the site into a taco stand. On July 4, 1956, Rodia’s house was destroyed by fire. By 1957, Watts Towers was under threat of demolition by order of the City of Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety, which issued an order to remove the towers, declaring them unsafe and a serious threat to public safety (Board of Building and Safety Commissioners, City of Los Angeles 1959a-c). City employees were aware of Watts Towers as early as the 1940s. However, it was not until February 5, 1957, that the Board of Building and Safety Commission ordered the owners to demolish and remove the dangerous tower and fire-damaged building.

In 1959, filmmaker William Cartwright (Trouston 2013) and actor Nicholas King (McLellan 2012a) purchased the property from Montoya for $3000. Cartwright was an Emmy-winning filmmaker who learned of the existence of Watts Towers from his close friend Bob Willoughby, a well-known Hollywood photographer. King was an assistant to Willoughby in the late 1950s and, upon overhearing Willoughby’s description of the Watts Towers, offered to pool his money with Cartwright to purchase the property. At the time of purchase, King and Cartwright were unaware of the city’s demolition order. Still, they were determined to fight it and worked to raise funds and public awareness to mobilize opposition against its demolition. To facilitate the preservation of Watts Towers, they formed a nonprofit organization called the Committee for Simon Rodia’s Towers in Watts (CSRTW) (Morgan 2003; State of California 1959). In 1961, ownership of Watts Towers was officially transferred to the CSRTW (State of California 1961). The CSRTW successfully fought the city’s demolition in court after conducting a stress test devised by Norman (Bud) Goldstone, an aeronautical engineer, demonstrating the structural stability of the sculptures. Goldstone’s stress test proved the three tall towers were safe and could withstand a force equal to that of a 128km/hour wind (Goldstone 1963b).

From 1959 to 1975, Watts Towers remained under the care and ownership of the CSRTW, which maintained the site and offered tours to the public. In 1961, the CSRTW bought a small white house down the street from the towers, offering free children’s art classes. After the Watts Riots (Rebellion) of 1965, the CSRTW built a much larger art center, ultimately becoming what is now known as the Watts Towers Arts Center to serve the needs of the local community, which was becoming increasingly isolated and impoverished. Despite the fires and total devastation of the surrounding commercial areas, Watts Towers survived unscathed and became a symbol of black resistance and resiliency. Over time, the CSRTW realized it did not have the financial resources to maintain the sculptures, which were continuing to deteriorate and required major repair work. Ultimately, the Los Angeles Municipal Art Department’s director, Kenneth Rose, offered to finance a complete restoration of Watts Towers if the CSRTW donated the site to the City of Los Angeles. Facing a potential crisis, the CSRTW Board of Trustees reluctantly agreed to the transfer of ownership, under the condition that they retain the right of approval over any structural work to be undertaken or action impacting the external appearance of the sculptures. In 1975, the CSRTW deeded Watts Towers to the City of Los Angeles. To the surprise of everyone involved, it was placed under the aegis of the Department of Public Works and not the Municipal Art Department (later renamed the Department of Cultural Affairs), which possessed little, if any, expertise in the care and preservation of works of art (City of Los Angeles. Department of Public Works 1975).

Over the next several years, Watts Towers was largely neglected by the City of Los Angeles. In March 1978, the city transferred ownership of the property to the State of California with a provision for a 50-year lease back, giving the city exclusive control of the site, including responsibility for its care and preservation, as well as the operation of public programs in California (City of Los Angeles 1978b; State of California, Department of Parks and Recreation 1978). For the immediate care and maintenance of the towers, the state granted the city $207,000, although no work was to be undertaken without its prior approval. (By leasing Watts Towers back to the City of Los Angeles, and providing funding for restoration work, the state avoided any legal requirement to abide by the Secretary of Interior Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties. The following year, Watts Towers was officially designated a state park and was renamed the Watts Towers of Simon Rodia State Historic Park (California Department of Parks and Recreation 2022).

CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE

Watts Towers is widely recognized as one of the finest examples of outsider art (defined as art made by those who are not formally trained artists or self-taught) in the United States and has become an iconic symbol of Los Angeles. It has also been described as a marvel of engineering and architecture, and remains one of the largest structures ever built by a single individual. The visionary architect Buckminster Fuller described Watts Towers as a masterpiece of assemblage and one of the first examples of the use of thin-shelled, reinforced concrete. Rodia’s