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All the United States California San Francisco Corporate Goddess Sculptures

Corporate Goddess Sculptures

Faceless white figures loom over the city from the rooftop.

San Francisco, California

Added By
Annetta Black
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  Markus Spierking via Flickr
  Markus Spierking via Flickr
View from Kearny St. Bridge, Chinatown   SEANETTA / Atlas Obscura User
View from 23rd floor, 555 California Street   SEANETTA / Atlas Obscura User
Taken from the Hilton Chinese Culture Center bridge   davinwhite / Atlas Obscura User
Taken from the Hilton Chinese Culture Center bridge   davinwhite / Atlas Obscura User
  www.breathingpictures.com
  www.breathingpictures.com
  http://www.pjar.com/project_page_580cal_im...
  tylercole / Atlas Obscura User
  http://www.pjar.com/project_page_580cal_im...
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About

Twelve ghostly figures watch over San Francisco's financial district from a rooftop perch 23 stories up, spooking those who spot them as they have for more than 20 years.

Artist Muriel Castanis, known specifically for her eerie draped figures, created the 12-foot high sculptures for the Philip Johnson-designed building in 1982, looking out from the four sided rooftop, three to a side. Since they were revealed they have been interpreted as everything from grim reapers to angels, but the artist described them as "corporate goddesses."

The official project documentation takes the high road, describing them thus: "They are empty, toga-draped forms from which the figures have been removed, rendering the sculptures as abstracted reinterpretations of the neoclassical masterworks of Lorado Taft and Augustus Saint Gaudens."

Another set of Castanis' ghostly figures known as the "Flatbush Floogies" can be seen on the walls of the Flatbush Avenue-Brooklyn subway station in New York.

Related Tags

Statues

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At the top of the building at 580 California Street, between Montgomery and Kearny

Community Contributors

Added By

Annetta Black

Edited By

oregonduckbrad, tylercole, davinwhite, SEANETTA

  • oregonduckbrad
  • tylercole
  • davinwhite
  • SEANETTA

Published

August 7, 2013

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Sources
  • http://sanfrancisco.about.com/od/sanfranciscophoto1/ig/Financial-District/Muriel-Castanis-Sculptures.htm
  • http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/26/arts/design/25castanis.html
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muriel_Castanis
  • http://articles.latimes.com/2007/jan/04/local/me-statues4
  • http://www.pjar.com/project_page_580cal_text.html
Corporate Goddess Sculptures
580 California Street
San Francisco, California, 94109
United States
37.792781, -122.404317
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