Administered by City and County of San Francisco San Francisco Arts Commission 25 Van Ness Avenue, Suite 240 San Francisco California 94102
Located Market Street at corner of Battery & Bush Streets San Francisco California 94111
Date:
Installed 1899. Dedicated May 15, 1901. Relocated 1951. Relocated 1973
Notes:
National Park Service, American Monuments and Outdoor Sculpture Database, CA2065, 1989.
Public Monument Conservation Project, 1986.
Monumental News, Feb. 1902, pg. 116.
Save Outdoor Sculpture, California, San Francisco survey, 1993.
Summary:
This monument celebrating the occupation of metal mechanics and their contribution to technology consists of five semi-nude workmen driving a stationary lever punch through a metal plate. Two of the men hold down the sheet of metal to be punched, while the other three men work the arm of the lever press. On the front of the press are two overlapping medallion containing profile portraits of Peter Donahue and his son James Mervyn Donahue. Beneath the portrait of Peter Donahue is the inscription "Labor Omnia Vincit" (Work Conquers All). Around the bottom of the sculpture are examples of mechanics work: a locomotive drive wheel, a piece of train rail, an anvil, a ship's screw, a cannon, and a block pulley.