San Francisco Blaze Destroys Artist’s Gift to L.A.

SAN FRANCISCO —  A lifetime of work by artist Tony Duquette was destroyed Thursday night when a five-alarm fire gutted the Pavilion of St. Francis art gallery.

“Our Lady of the Angels,” a collection of eight 28-foot-tall angels that Duquette created as a gift for Los Angeles’ 200th birthday, was among the critically acclaimed art pieces destroyed in the blaze.

“The angels went to heaven last night,” said John McCloskey. He was among the more than 150 firefighters who battled the blaze, which started at 9:15 p.m., until it burned itself out at 2:45 a.m. Friday. “We fought like hell to save them.”

Ashes and Traffic Jams

The inferno lit up the night sky as flames leaped 100 feet into the air and showered the Western Addition district with ashes. Traffic along Geary Boulevard, a major cross-town thoroughfare, was blocked for several hours.

Officials said the fire was started by a space heater belonging to a woman who lived in an apartment at the rear of the building, which once had been a synagogue. No one was hurt in the blaze.

Although no other buildings were burned, a sold-out concert by the Neville Brothers in the adjacent Old Filmore Auditorium was cut short, forcing the evacuation of 1,000 people.

“This is not a time to talk,” said Duquette, who was busy salvaging the remains of his exhibit Friday morning. With the help of friends and volunteers, Duquette reclaimed water-damaged antique furniture, paintings and other art objects.

Duquette is best known for his sculptures composed of shells, feathers, buttons, roots, animal bones, spent shotgun shells and other pieces of found art.

He was the first American artist to have a one-man show at the Louvre Museum in Paris. He also has created jewelry for the Duchess of Windsor and designed interiors for the late J. Paul Getty.

Duquette’s angels were exhibited at the Los Angeles Museum of Science and Industry and later at the Immanuel Presbyterian Church. But after a two-year stint in Los Angeles, no one was willing to give the angels a permanent home.

The artist had no estimate of the amount of damage caused by the fire, but fire officials put the figure at more than $1 million.

“Everything is gone, our whole lifetime of work, all the angels that Los Angeles didn’t want,” Duquette said.