The Aztec Warrior Finds a Second Home
The first occupant of the new Parma Payne Goodall Alumni Center moved in last week.
The SDSU Alumni Association staff is settled into the new Parma Payne Goodall Alumni Center on the west side of campus with the Campanile Foundation staff soon to follow. But the first occupant of the nearly completed 55th Street facility was one of the most familiar faces on the Mesa.
The big move
With the help of a giant crane, a 4,650-pound replica of the iconic Aztec sculpture settled onto its pedestal at the center of the building’s Stonehenge-like rotunda. Sculptor Donal Hord’s original, dedicated in 1937, resides in the Prospective Student Center. The new version will be unveiled during the alumni center’s Oct. 17 grand opening.
“It’s an homage to the original,” said Jeremy Blake, special features art director for the alumni center. “This one we’re calling the Alumni Aztec, Emperor Montezuma.”
A familiar face
To generations of San Diego State students, however, the creation is more affectionately known as “Monty.”
The statue will be unveiled at the Parma Payne Goodall Alumni Center grand opening.The statue itself is six feet tall—a little more than a third larger than the original. On its pedestal from base to crown it stands 9.5 feet high. Cast in concrete, it was coated in a penetrating stain to provide a custom finish to mimic the black diorite material used in the first sculpture.
“Our goal was to replicate the form perfectly,” Blake explains. “We just rescaled it for this site. It’s a 3-D scan that’s actually a perfect model.”
Hoisting the immense figure into place required a team of workers to place Monty in a large sling. The crane then slowly lifted the concrete likeness over the top of the rotunda where the workers gently guided it to its resting place using wet cement to permanently anchor it in its new home.
For now, the statue remains covered under a tarp. However, it will be unveiled during homecoming weekend, Oct. 17, when the Alumni Center has its grand opening.
From concept to completion
No one is more relieved to have the move completed than Blake, who said the statue project, from concept to crane placement, has been going on for a couple of years.
“Production alone took eight months,” he said. Installation “went about as well as we could hope for,” Blake assessed.
He offers this tip to Aztecs interested in viewing the new statue after its unveiling: drop in on Monty after dark.
“With up-lighting, it’s going to be really striking at night,” he said.
