Jo Mora and the Don Lee Cadillac Building

1000 Van Ness
Tenderloin

This sculpture sits over the entryway to the Don Lee Cadillac Showroom.    The sculpture is the creation of Jo Mora, who has been in this website before.

 This doorway pediment consists of a central shield bearing the Cadillac insignia framed by an ornately carved, stylized border with a lion’s face at the bottom. Symmetrically seated on either side of the shield is a partially draped seated male figure. The male figure on the left rests his outstretched proper right arm on an 8-spoke Cadillac wheel, beyond which is an anvil. He holds a sledgehammer in his proper left hand, a sprocket and cable are on the base beneath his knee. The male on the right rests his outstretched proper left arm on a 12-spoke wheel, beyond which is a battery.***

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The cadillac emblem is one of few in the automotive industry whose origins legitimately belong to a family name. Le Sieur Antoine De La Mothe Cadillac was born in Gascony on March 5, 1658.  He founded Detroit in 1701, as well as the governorship of Mississippi.  King Louis XIV awarded him the rank of Chevalier of the Military Order of St. Louis.

The Crown symbolizes the six ancient counts of France.  Each tip is topped with a pearl, a symbol of descendancy from the royal counts of Tolouse.

The birds are merlettes, which are heraldic adaptations of the martin.  They are set in trios to represent the Holy Trinity.  Merlettes were usually awarded by the school of heralds to knights making significant contributions in the Crusades.  The color black against gold, represents wisdom and riches.  The “fess”, or lateral black bar, represents the award for Crusader service.

The red band symbolizes prowess and boldness in action.  The silver (which looks white in the photo) represents purity, charity, virtue and plenty.  The blue represents knightly valor.

The emblem was adopted for use on Cadillac cars in 1905.  It was registered as a trademark on August 7, 1906.  The Cadillac emblem underwent a complete redesign in 1998.

***The battery is in the official explanation of the piece.  However, I found a wonderful, but sadly very small, photo at the website Roadside America that shows that what that really is is an engine block.