Kaufmann's Clock, (sculpture).

Kaufmann's Clock, (sculpture).

Unknown, sculptor.

Coldwell Clock Company, fabricator.

Janssen and Abbott, architectural firm.

Pittsburgh Clock Company, fabricator.

Kaufmann's Clock, (sculpture).

ca. 1888. Installed 1913.

Bronze or red brass.

Clock: approx. H. 6 ft. x 4 1/2 x 6 in.; Bracket: approx. 3 ft. x 6 ft. x 6 in.: Figures: life-size.

Circular clock flanked by two male nudes. Elaborate bronze volute corbel supports clock from building facade.

Figure group -- Male -- Nude

Object -- Furniture -- Clock

Outdoor Sculpture -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh

Administered by May Department Stores Company, 400 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15219

Located Kaufmann's, Smithfield Street & Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

The clock was funded by the Kaufmann Brothers Department Store. This clock replaced one which stood on a post outside Kaufmann's former building on this same site. In 1913 when architects, Janssen and Abbott designed the new Kaufmann's building, they incorporated a clock into the facade.

In June 1987, the clock was removed and renovated during an eight-ten week process which cost 30,000 dollars. The renovation was a five-step process which began with the removal of each clock piece, followed by the tagging, numbering,and photographing of each clock piece before the delivery of the pieces to the company doing the restoration.

IAS files contain an October 26, 1987 Kaufmann's press release which details the restoration of the clock; an article from the Pittsburgh Press, November 7, 1987, which also discusses the restoration process in detail; and an article from the Pittsburgh-Post Gazette, November 9, 1987, which includes a large drawing of the clock. According to the Kaufmann's press release, the clock is made of red brass, although the Evert publication and the 1995 SOS! survey note that the medium is bronze. Also, the Pittsburgh Press, November 7, 1987 article notes that not only did the present clock replace the old clock which stood on a post outside the building since 1884, but that this new clock, installed in 1913, was designed by the Coldwell Clock Company of New York. During the 1987 renovation, the Pittsburgh Clock Company provided new hands and the new dual-drive movement. The new hands are copies of the original clockhands base on a single surviving photograph found in Kaufmann's archives.

The Kaufmann's building and clock received landmark status from Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation in 1981. Inscription on nearby plaque reads: Historic/Landmark/Kaufmann's Dept. Store and Clock/Built 1898 Charles Bickel architect/Addition 1913 Janssen and Abbott architects/Pittsburgh History and/Landmarks Foundation.

Evert, Marilyn, "Discovering Pittsburgh's Sculpture," Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1983, pg. 79-80.

National Park Service, American Monuments and Outdoor Sculpture Database, PA0162, 1989.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Pennsylvania survey, 1995.

Evert, Marilyn, "Discovering Pittsburgh's Sculpture," Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1983, pg. 119.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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