Propylaea is a sculpture/fountain on the
Maumee River, in downtown
Toledo, Ohio
Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...
.
About
In the early 1980s,
Owens-Illinois was building their new world headquarters at
One SeaGate
Fifth Third Center at One SeaGate is the 2nd tallest building in Toledo, behind the Cleveland Cliffs Furnace Tower (457 feet). Until 2006, the building served as the world headquarters for Owens-Illinois. In 2007, Fifth Third Bank moved their ...
. As a gift to the city, the company commissioned
Dimitri Hadzi
Dimitri Hadzi (March 21, 1921 – April 16, 2006) was an American abstract sculptor who lived and worked in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and also taught at Harvard University for over a decade.
Life
Hadzi was born to Greek-American immigrant pare ...
to design a sculpture to stand as the centerpiece of the SeaGate complex. The sculpture is made from
granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...
, and is nestled as a fountain on a reflecting pond between One and Two SeaGate. Dimitri Hadzi described the use of water in the sculpture as a way of creating activity in the flat lands of Ohio.
Dedication
Next to the sculpture there is a dedication which reads:
PROPYLAEA
1980–82
DIMITRI HADZI, SCULPTOR
AMERICAN B. 1921
THIS GRANITE SCULPTURE NAMED FROM THE GREEK WORD
FOR "GATEWAY," WAS COMMISSIONED BY OWENS-ILLINOIS TO STAND
AS A SYMBOLIC ENTRANCE TO SEAGATE AND A REVITALIZED TOLEDO.
HISTORICALLY, TOLEDO HAS BEEN A GATEWAY TO EXPLORATION, INVENTION
TRANSPORTATION AND INDUSTRY THAT HAS HELPED TO FORGE OUR NATION,
AND THE PROMISE OF ITS FUTURE IS TYPIFIED IN SEAGATE.
See also
*
One SeaGate
Fifth Third Center at One SeaGate is the 2nd tallest building in Toledo, behind the Cleveland Cliffs Furnace Tower (457 feet). Until 2006, the building served as the world headquarters for Owens-Illinois. In 2007, Fifth Third Bank moved their ...
*
Owens-Illinois
References
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Outdoor sculptures in Ohio
Buildings and structures in Toledo, Ohio
1982 establishments in Ohio