The Guardian of Water Sculpture

The “Guardian of Water” sculpture fountain on the harbor side of the
building began as a separate project prior to completion of the Civic
Center. Local resident Helen Towle willed more than $30,000 to the
San Diego Fine Arts Society, $6,000 of which could be used exclusively
for purchasing “works of art of a permanent nature, to be given to the
people of San Diego.” It was decided that the funds would be best put
toward the creation of a public sculpture. The Works Progress
Administration supplied the remaining $14,000 necessary to fund a
commissioned sculpture by prominent local artist Donal Hord.
In July 1937, a 22-ton granite block from a Lakeside quarry was
delivered to Hord’s studio. Hord labored over the sculpture for two
years, shaping the block into a figure of a pioneer woman holding a
water jug, symbolic of San Diego’s guardianship over one of its most
precious resources: water.
Mosaic tiles, also designed by
Hord, cover the base of the statue. The mosaic symbolizes clouds in
the form of kneeling nudes, who pour water from jars over a dam which
flows into a conventionalized citrus fruit orchard. Shapes of dolphins
and fish were carved into the interior basin, measuring 17 feet, 6
inches in diameter. The circumference of the basin bears a design of
sea snails. When asked to explain the meaning behind the mosaic
patterns, Hord claimed that it was his idea to produce these different
areas almost as though a pebble were dropped in the water; the water
first coming from the clouds, giving life to the land, then spilling
over into the sea, which was represented by fish forms, and finally
ending on a shoreline in the drawing of sea snails.57 The combined
statue and base rise 22 feet, 3 inches, with the statue itself
reaching a height of 13 feet, 3 inches. The “Guardian of Water” was
dedicated on June 10, 1939, in a ceremony at the new Civic
Center.
In 1960 a replica of “Guardian of Water” was sent
to Yokohama, Japan as a gift from the San Diego-Yokohama Friendship
Commission and emphasizing the sculpture’s significance in San Diego
history. Hord’s work remains a source of regional pride and a tribute
to fine arts.
Watch a
documentary produced in the 1930's, called Symphony in
Stone. This 14-minute video shows the story of the "Guardian
of Water" sculpture that sits on the west plaza of the County
Administration Center. The video chronicles the construction and
installation of the sculpture.