The naked Donald Trump statue that both awed and grossed out people in San Francisco’s Castro District was taken into custody by the city Department of Public Works early Friday.

Before dawn, workers uprooted the larger-than-life-size sculpture of the Republican presidential candidate that was glued to the pavement at Jane Warner Plaza at Castro and Market streets. Crews carted it away on a hand-truck.

But the more than 6-foot-tall, potbellied piece of rogue artwork is expected to get a new home downtown.

Lefty O’Doul’s, the famed Geary Street restaurant and pub, wants to display the statue — once it is “released from DPW custody,” the business announced in a statement. It was not immediately clear if DPW officials would allow the restaurant to adopt the statue.

At a press conference Friday morning, Nick Bovis, the owner of Lefty O’Doul’s, said he is “offering sanctuary” to the Trump statue and has assembled a legal team to work on getting the DPW to surrender custody of it to his business.

On Thursday night, Supervisor Scott Wiener, who represents the Castro on the Board of Supervisors, tweeted that the statue was to be removed overnight, but that he was “working to save him so SF can be reminded of his ridiculousness thru election.”

Weiner, who is expected to attend the press conference at Lefy O’Doul’s, tried to get DWP to leave the statue in place in the Castro, but officials said it was presenting a traffic hazard by attracting crowds that spilled into the streets.

The statue suddenly appeared about 8 a.m. Thursday morning and quickly became a star attraction, with people clamoring to take photos of it. Late Thursday, it was still attracting scores of onlookers, requiring the city to post traffic-control officers at the location.

The statue was the rogue art project of the nonprofit activist group Indecline, which got sculptor Joshua “Ginger” Monroe to make it along with at least four others that were simultaneously installed in Los Angeles, Seattle, Cleveland and New York City.

The statues in Cleveland, New York and Seattle were removed soon after they appeared.

“It was almost similar to planning a bank robbery,” an Indecline spokesman told Chronicle columnist C.W. Nevius of the secret plot to plant the statues around the country.

Bill Hutchinson is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: bhutchinson@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @bill_hutchinson