Her name is Electra and the two-ton gal is mounted high above the Alabama Power building on 18th Street North. She’s been a fixture in the eastern downtown skyline since 1926, offering that gritty, masculine landscape a few nice gentle curves.
Originally, Electra was to be called “Divinity of Light.” Creator Edward Field Sanford, Jr. said the statue represented “the state of Alabama rising triumphantly electrified”.
What pressure!
Story goes that the gleaming gilded lady entertains a courtship with that other Birmingham statue, Mr. Iron Legs himself, Vulcan.
I like that. And what a terrible, wonderful story they’ve watched unfold over the last (almost) century. What painful and amazing things stretch out between them…
Happy weekend, all! May your love affairs be smoltering. May your stature be strong and tall.
4 Comments
My Father worked for the power company and as a small child I remember asking if the gold statue could get stolen from the roof.
Chuck, you just never know!! Thanks for reading
How have I never noticed her before? I need to go downtown now.
Take the kids to McWane and when you are leaving the parking garage, look North! You can’t miss her