Artwork removed before Old Courthouse Square demolition in Santa Rosa

The demolition of Old Courthouse Square, which began in earnest this week, will result in new lives for several works of public art displayed prominently in the downtown Santa Rosa square.

Twelve benches painted by ArtStart students were placed in storage until they can be moved to other parts of the city. A bench featuring a sculpture of the “Peanuts” character Marcie reading a book has been removed and will be reinstalled in the square when it is reunified later this year.

Two sculptures that have graced the west side of the bifurcated square for years were unbolted from their foundations and set aside for the artists to retrieve.

And, in the biggest relocation effort by far, four concrete panels by famed Bay Area sculptor Ruth Asawa were carefully detached from the sides of the downtown fountain they’ve been affixed to for nearly 30 years.

“I’m looking forward to seeing the panels cleaned and reinstalled,” said Tara Thompson, the city’s arts coordinator. “They are important pieces for Santa Rosa and Sonoma County and show lots of our rich history.”

With most of the pieces safely out of the way, workers from Thompson Builders Corp. of Novato began dismantling the square this week. They knocked over many of the remaining trees, ripped out turf, destroyed the Rosenberg fountain, and jackhammered up much of the concrete.

The work is part of a $9.2 million project to reunite the two sides of Old Courthouse Square, which was cut in half in 1966 when Mendocino Avenue was routed right through the middle of the square.

The city hopes to complete the project by the holiday shopping season, an admittedly aggressive schedule. Mendocino Avenue remains open for now but will be blocked off sometime this summer, when traffic will be rerouted around the square.

Work to begin installing sewer and water lines that will run beneath the new streets coming on the east and west sides of the square is expected to start soon.

The artwork being removed this week included a stainless steel sculpture perched on a knoll in the northwest corner of the square.

The three-pronged piece by Darrell Horn, named “Family Conference,” resembles a blender blade. A bright yellow steel sculpture called “Missaweek” by artist William Wareham was removed Friday from the southwest quadrant of the square.

Both were on loan to the city as part of the city’s Art in Public Places program and were retrieved by the artists, Thompson said.

But by far the most work is going into removal and preservation of the four bas-relief friezes created by Asawa in 1987.

The panels, which were bolted to the sides of an existing tile fountain, depict scenes of Sonoma County life and history, including the Bear Flag revolt, buildings such as St. Teresa of Avila church in Bodega, a Pacific Ocean teeming with sea life, and even some “Peanuts” characters hidden throughout.

The panel on the west side of the fountain that had water flowing over it was covered in brown algae, said Katharine Untch, the art conservationist hired to help the city ensure the panels are preserved, repaired and reinstalled appropriately in the future.

When that gunk was removed, the concrete beneath was revealed to be a muted mint color. The panel, which was originally tan, was likely discolored over the years by the copper in the water, Untch said.

Overall, however, the panels were in pretty good shape, Untch said.

They were loaded up by workers specializing in moving fine art and trucked to a warehouse in Oakland, where they will cleaned up and returned for reinstallation on a new fountain, Thompson said.

The new fountain design, which is not part of the current project, heads to the Art in Public Places Committee on June 6.

You can reach Staff Writer Kevin McCallum at 521-5207 or kevin.mccallum@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @srcitybeat.