March 21, 2007
Toth Statue
The Punta Gorda Chamber of Commerce folks – supposed promoter of things beneficial to the community – have their dander up about the huge Native American statue in the front yard of their new office in the Freeman House rented from the city at the foot of Gilchrist Bridge.
Both the office – shared by the Punta Gorda History Society – and the statue are outstanding links to the city’s unique past.
The Freeman House, on the National Register Of Historic Places, was dumped by the Charlotte Foundation after moderate damage by Hurricane Charley.
After an outcry by the Punta Gorda History Society, the city moved the house to its present location and refurbished it. Beautiful!
It is a priceless link to the city’s past, and the most elegant Chamber office in the nation. The History Society will give guided tours.
The Peter Toth statue in the front yard also was rescued when out of town owners of the nearby hotel junked it to “renovate” their parking lot after H-Charley.
Toth is an internationally famous sculptor now living in retirement at Miami. His statue here – commissioned by the late Fred Babcock for $10,000 – has been evaluated to be worth $50,000 now.
Toth was persuaded to come here last year and refurbish his masterpiece – a destination for his fans throughout the United States and Canada where his statues have been carved from existing trees.
The Chamber ladies assert the statue is ‘ugly,’ and the rendition of one of the animals is “anatomically” correct.
Hey! So is the Venus de Milo statue at the Louvre Museum in Paris. The all-natural David statue in Florence, Italy, is replicated at Buffalo, New York.
Out of town strangers in cars racing across the Gilchrist Bridge might briefly notice the pretty house just past the hotel and future Event Center. However, if you have seen one a hotel, one public building and one pretty house – you’ve seen them all.
The four-part over-size Toth sculpture -- featuring an Indian brave and Indian maiden dreaming of their totem animals struggling for freedom – is: “Hey, look at that, let’s stop and have a better look!”
The Chamber – and other critics -- are straining to move the statue any where it will be little noticed. Gilchrist Park is a possibility, but it is crowded with pavilions, monuments, gazebos and meeting buildings.
Toth’s statue would be most appropriate where it is – a stone throw from the Indian mound location which also was the site of the first non-Indian inhabitants of Punta Gorda.
If the views of critical renters prevail, then the next-best location would be the park to be created behind the restored Old Court House. There it would be visible to motorists headed out of town on the twin bridge across the harbor.
The cost, of course, could be assessed to Chamber of Commerce members.
Click here for companion article
By Lindsey Williams, columnist for Sun Coast Media Group newspapers
