City seeks home for St. Francis statue after Candlestick eviction

The 27-foot-tall statue of St. Francis, which has stood outside Candlestick Park since 1973, is being evicted to make way for a new shopping center and hotel. It was created by artist Ruth Wakefield Cravath The 27-foot-tall statue of St. Francis, which has stood outside Candlestick Park since 1973, is being evicted to make way for a new shopping center and hotel. It was created by artist Ruth Wakefield Cravath Photo: Courtesy SF Arts Commission Photo: Courtesy SF Arts Commission Image 1 of / 69 Caption Close City seeks home for St. Francis statue after Candlestick eviction 1 / 69 Back to Gallery

After more than 40 years of blessing the ups and downs of the 49ers and Giants, the patron saint of Candlestick Park is about to find himself homeless.

The 27-foot-tall, cast-concrete and steel-reinforced statue of St. Francis is being sent packing from the middle of the stadium’s bus zone, where it guarded the millions of football and baseball fans who passed through the Stick’s Gate A.

Like so many San Franciscans, St. Francis is being evicted — along with the memories of Willie Mays and Joe Montana — to make way for a big new development. In this case, a shopping center and hotel will replace Candlestick, which is scheduled to begin coming down within days.

The San Francisco Arts Commission and other city departments are scrambling to find St. Francis a new home.

“It’s a bit of San Francisco history that we don’t want to go away,” said Allison Cummings, a senior staffer at the Arts Commission, which is coordinating the move.

The statue, created by artist Ruth Wakefield Cravath, was among the first commissioned as part of a city program that requires developers to set aside 2 percent of construction costs for public art. It was installed in 1973, just after work was completed adding thousands of seats and enclosing Candlestick so the 49ers could use it.

Cravath worked on statues at the Golden Gate International Exposition in 1939 and later taught at the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco and Mills College in Oakland. Cravath, who died in 1986, ran in the same circles as another and better-known sculptor, Benny Bufano, whose 38-foot Madonna figure, “Peace,” was recently returned to Brotherhood Way at a cost of $200,000. That statue had been removed for two years to make way for a housing development.

Cravath’s statue may wind up staying in the neighborhood — perhaps incorporated as part of the new development, meaning St. Francis would oversee the Stick’s new shoppers as they fight for parking.

If that doesn’t work out, officials are eyeing several parks across San Francisco. But relocating the statue to any of them would be a challenge.

“It’s a big piece, so it’s not like we can just plop it down across the street,” Cummings said. “It needs to have the right kind of space.”

In the meantime, St. Francis is headed for storage. But even that is no small task. The statue weighs several tons and will require a crane and specially built steel saddle to lift it and lay it on its back onto a flatbed truck for transport to a secure, private yard.

The price tag is no small matter, either. The total cost of moving and refurbishing the statue — including spiffing up its Plexiglas face, halo and cross — will be roughly $150,000 to $200,000.

The cost is a touchy subject not lost on the Arts Commission (which owns the piece), the Recreation and Park Department (which owned Candlestick), the city’s Office of Community Investment and Infrastructure (which is transferring the land) and Lennar Corp. (which is redeveloping the property).

Looks like they’re going to have to pass the plate.