Photo by Patrick Snapp
SURVIVOR. Harold Balazs’ fountain sculpture is in the courtyard of the Bicentennial Pavilion at South 13th and Market streets.
This is an ongoing series of articles paying tribute to Tacoma’s public art works that often go missed by busy commuters passing through and even locals who walk past these monuments every day but never stop to appreciate them. Enjoy!
The year was 1976 and as Independence Day rolled around, the whole nation was decked out in red, white and blue bunting. Bell bottoms and ultra-retro Betsy Ross dresses were plastered with the stars and stripes of Old Glory as we the people turned out to celebrate the 200th birthday of the United States – the American Bicentennial.
In Tacoma’s downtown, July of 1976 saw the opening of the Bicentennial Pavilion (at the corner of South 13th and Market streets) with all the hoopla and fanfare of a city feeling its growing pangs and in need of a meeting place big enough to accommodate large gatherings. (The Bicentennial Pavilion, however, would soon be deemed too small for the task and the Tacoma Dome and Convention Center would eventually meet the need for spaces where large groups might gather.)
An energy-efficient, concrete ziggurat, the pavilion itself has not stood up to the test of time – stylistically speaking – nearly as well as its adjoining courtyard. The latter is a wonderful little pocket park with a plaza and grassy, tree-grown slopes that frame a fountain built into the concrete wall below Market Street.
During the planning of the pavilion, architect Robert Price brought in Spokane-area artist Harold Balazs to design the fountain as an architectural flourish and focal point for the western wall of the courtyard.
Balazs came up with a large, relief sculpture: a wonderful mingling of sinuous forms cast in concrete over which water would cascade down into a rectangular basin at the foot of the wall.
Originally from Ohio, Balazs (pronounced “blaze”) first experienced handling of materials in his father’s sheet metal and air conditioning business. When the family moved west, Balazs attended Washington State University from which he received his bachelor of arts degree in 1951. From the 1960s on, Balazs started working hand-in-hand with various architects like Price. He was adept at integrating his designs into the larger schemes of the architects. The American Institute of Architects awarded him a gold medal in architectural crafts in 1967.
The Spokane region is the epicenter of Balazs’ public works but there are a number of examples west of the Cascades including our own Bicentennial Pavilion fountain. Balazs works in metal, wood, enamel, cast concrete and is also a gifted painter. At age 81, he continues to create his distinctive art.
The Bicentennial Pavilion fountain sculpture is currently in a state of disrepair. Parts are crumbling from having been exposed to the elements for the past three decades. In a few places the rebar skeleton is showing through. Even in its dilapidated state the work nevertheless retains a powerful presence.
Presiding over a pool of stagnant rainwater, the sculpture has the air of a Mayan monument: some ancient Central America king with an elaborate headdress. The thing is anthropomorphic and the style seems a perfect synthesis of Mesoamerican, Asian and Celtic design elements.
A dark, crusty residue clings to the sculpture like the lichens on the nearby trees. Discolored pipes sneak up behind the work. At least as recently as 2008 water flowed over the piece. Now, however, the water stains on the wall at either side of the relief seem like the wings of a pagan angel. Some secret admirer has built a series of little obos – stacked stones – at the foot of the sculpture and in the surrounding area.
The whole site – tucked away at the corner of South 13th and Market streets – is like a secret, enchanted valley amid the urban landscape. The place is all the more mellow and restful, perhaps, because it has had time to age and to show the mossy passage of time. Balazs’ fountain sculpture is one of Tacoma’s many hidden treasures.
As of November 2009, the city of Tacoma reached a lease agreement in which the Hotel Murano is granted management of the Bicentennial Pavilion. Decisions regarding the ultimate fate of the fountain sculpture must be made in conjunction with the city. A calculus that weighs the cost of repair to the sculpture against its value must be made at some point in order to determine whether or not it will remain as a feature of our city.
It is hoped that an agreement can be reached whereby the Balazs sculpture will be repaired and the waters may once more flow over its timeless form.
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