![]() ![]() ![]() Once known as the Lorain-Carnegie Bridge, it connects the two major roads over the Cuyahoga River. The club is now called the Cleveland Guardians, and the new name pays homage to four, two-sided sculptures known as the “Guardians of Traffic,” which stand prominently on the city’s Hope Memorial Bridge. Wagon,” “The Ship,” “The Motor Car” and “The Aircraft.” The designers later chose to leave out the horse, ship and plane and give all the Guardians ground vehicles.Įditor’s Note: This article was originally published in 2009 as part of our “Icons of Cleveland” package.By Pamela Dorazio Dean, The Italian American Museum of ClevelandĬleveland’s Major League Baseball team completed their last season as the Indians on October 3, 2021. An early sketch of from the Walker & Weeks firm shows a guardian holding a car and includes a list titled “Motifs of Locomotion,” which included: “The Horse and Like the bridge guardians, the winged bulls were placed in pairs and offered protection to those who passed between them.ĥ. The Assyrian guardians were part man, part winged bull, and their wings also stretchedīack along the square sides of the statutes. The wings of the guardians, which wrap around the pylons, have reminded one historian of the guardian statues at Assyrian kings’ palaces. Egyptian Revival styles were popular in the 1920s, thanks to the 1922 discovery of King Tut’s tomb and the Art Deco movement’s embrace of stylized figures.Ĥ. Some observers see Egyptian influence in the statues. Also known as Mercury by the Romans, he was often depicted with a wingedģ. The wings on the helmets suggest who they may be modeled after: Hermes, the messenger of the gods and the god of commerce and land travel in Greek mythology. The Guardians of Traffic are Cleveland’s only large Art Deco monuments.Ģ. ![]() The angular parallel lines that run behind and below the Guardians mark the statues as Art Deco, the sleek modern style of the late 1920s and 1930s. Here are the best clues to Walker’s influences.ġ. Watson explained what the guardians symbolized, but not what had inspired them. Premier architectural firm of the time, with the guardians’ design. Watson credited Frank Walker of Walker & Weeks, Cleveland’s Henry Hering of New York City was hired as the sculptor, but the Art Deco style of the bridge was not typical of his work. Still, the bridge came in under budget, at $6.5 million (or around $90 million in today’s dollars). The bridge in 1927, before the Depression forced a return to frugal simplicity in public construction. “Great care was taken to obtain a pleasing architectural creation,” wrote Watson, “demanded by a public that is becoming more and more critical in this regard.” The spirit of progress in transportation.”Įach guardian holds a different vehicle in his hand, representing the history of ground transport - from a stagecoach, covered wagon and hay rack to a 1930s-era automobile and four Their name comes from Wilbur Watson, the bridge’s engineer, who wrote that the eight figures were meant to “typify The Art Deco figures carved in the sandstone pylons on the Lorain-Carnegie Bridge have stood guard over east-west traffic since 1932. ![]() Business Hall of Fame and Community Leader of the Year Awards. ![]()
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