Donal Hord Sites

This 4' high Indiana limestone sculpture and fountain by Donal Hord is titled "Woman of Tehuantepec" and is located in the courtyard of the House of Hospitality at San Diego's Balboa Park.

These seven 6' x 9' relief panels are carved from Indiana limestone and were intended for the school library. "The Legend of California is a set of seven incised relief panels carved from Indiana limestone for the Library of the Coronado High School. Dedicated in February of 1941, the central panel depicts the mythical Amazonian Queen Calafia, after whom California was named. The side panels depict the various ethnic groups that have made up the population of the state. The Legend of California was executed under the sponsorship of the Federal Government Works Progress Administration." (https://content.cdlib.org)

This cast stone sculpture by Donal Hord was funded by the PWAP in 1934. The sculpture depicts a man crouching behind a wheel filled with gears and is variously known as "Man and the Wheel" or "Wheel of Industry" or "Man and the Machine." The sculpture's dimensions are 6'8" height x 5'6" width x 4' deep, and the base is 4'h x 5'w x 4'd. The piece seems to have originally been made for the museum in Exposition Park. It is currently in storage: "The sculpture was constructed as part of the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP). It may have been...

The "Guardian of Water" is a granite sculpture, with a mosaic and frieze around the base. It was created by Donal Hord in 1939, with support from the WPA. The sculpture is a 23' high figure of a woman holding an olla on her left shoulder, symbolizing the need for water conservation in southern California. She is surrounding by a mosaic of kneeling nudes- symbolizing clouds- pouring water from jars over a dam into a citrus-fruit orchard. The San Diego Historical Society Museum has on display a small scale plaster maquette and a film about the creation of this work.

This 5' high black diorite sculpture "The Aztec" was carved by Donal Hord and his team in 1936, a project that took a year to complete.  The one-ton block of stone they sculpted was quarried locally from Escondido. Previously in front of Heppner Hall, it was moved from its original location to make way for the San Diego Trolley Project. It currently stands in the University's Prospective Student Center. From the San Diego Travel Tips website: "In 1936, San Diego sculptor Donal Hord was commissioned to carve a statue for the campus of San Diego State University. He completed the work,...

This WPA bas-relief "CCC Workers" was carved for the school by Donal Hord in 1933. It shows CCC workers engaged in a variety of activities. The relief adorns the south entrance of the school auditorium. It has recently been restored with a grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. South Pasadena Middle School students created this video about the relief.