Phil Townsend

Diverse Sculpture

Back                                                          Previous  Next

Title:  ‘A Dodo with a Toupee’

Location:  Sunderland, 2001

Materials:  Cedar, Stainless Steel 

Description:  Once known as the Eagle Tavern, an interesting old building next to Sunderland’s Customs House was restored to its former glory in a project overseen by the North East Civic Trust and backed by English Heritage. A condition of the restoration was that it should erect a replica of the huge wooden eagle that once stood on the apex of the roof. This 2.5 metre tall replica was based on photographs of the original (described by someone as looking like a “Dodo with a toupee”), and carved from laminated boards of Cedar built around a stainless steel box section core. From its eyrie 60 feet above, this rather whimsical looking bird has views right across the source of Sunderland’s industrial past, the mouth of the River Wear.