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An immigrant tile setter, Sam Rodia, has created a work of art in the Watts Towers in California which has been officially designated by the state as a historic cultural monument. In 1921, Sam started to build on his little lot, backed up against a railroad track in Watts, a small town near Los Angeles. He built for 33 years, without money and without tools beyond the simple tools of the tile setter and a window washer's belt and buckle. He built with any kind of materials he could find- pipe, angle irons, stone, steel, broken concrete, bottle caps, and railroad tie all held together buy cement.
After the work was completed, it became a popular site for children until 1959 when the city decided it was a public menace and ordered it torn down. But artists saw in the work a stamp of genius and a committee was formed to save the Watts Towers. The city agreed to a stress tests and the towers passed the test.
Sam Rodia leaves two legacies to those who work with concrete: a powerful faith in the remarkable qualities of this material and an astounding example of the high quality and permanency that can be achieved through careful and thoughtful use.
