''Spirit of Communication'' is the formal name for the statue by Evelyn Beatrice Longman originally called ''Genius of Telegraphy''. The statue has been the symbol of

AT&T AT&T Inc., an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the w ...

(and also the former

Western Electric Western Electric Co., Inc. was an American electrical engineering and manufacturing company that operated from 1869 to 1996. A subsidiary of the AT&T Corporation for most of its lifespan, Western Electric was the primary manufacturer, supplier, ...

) since their commission was completed in 1916. It is also known informally as the ''Golden Boy'' statue and formerly as ''Genius of Electricity''. Commissioned for

195 Broadway 195 Broadway, also known as the Telephone Building, Telegraph Building, or Western Union Building, is an early skyscraper on Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Manhattan in New York City. T ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, the sculpture has followed AT&T to other sites in New York and

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

over the years. In 2009, the statue was relocated to AT&T's current corporate headquarters in downtown

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

, U.S. As of 2022, the statue is located outside in the AT&T Discovery District in Downtown Dallas.

History

Commissioned in 1914, it was crafted by Evelyn Beatrice Longman. The work was completed in 1916 and hoisted to the roof of AT&T Corporate Headquarters at

in the Financial District of

Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan, also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York City, is the southernmost part of the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The neighborhood is History of New York City, the historical birthplace o ...

. The statue's design by Evelyn Beatrice Longman was selected as the winner of a competition, similar to the 1917 Bell Telephone Memorial. It became New York City's second-largest sculpture, after the Statue of Liberty. The statue's original name as commissioned under the aegis of AT&T's president Theodore N. Vail was ''Genius of Telegraphy''.Gray, Christopher
AT&T Headquarters at 195 Broadway; A Bellwether Building Where History Was Made
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', April 23, 2000. By that time, AT&T had spun off its telegraphy component, Western Union, and the work was renamed to ''Genius of Electricity''. In the 1928,1938, and 1941 editions of the training course ''Principles of Electricity applied to Telephone and Telegraph Work'', it was referred to as ''Spirit of Electricity''. Spirit_of_Communication_AT%26T_logo_1914

The statue weighs more than 14.5 tonnes (16 short tons) and is tall, with wings that extend from its body. It is cast in bronze and covered with more than 12,500 pieces of gold leaf. Sometime in the mid-1930s, AT&T changed the name of the statue (and the image) to ''The Spirit of Communication''. It continued to stand atop the

building until the early 1980s. In 1984, AT&T moved to a new postmodern headquarters building at 550 Madison Avenue in

Midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan, serving as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Building, the ...

, designed by Philip Johnson. On Johnson's suggestion, the statue was relocated to the foyer of the new location.

Relocation to New Jersey

1984 marked the end of the

Bell System The Bell System was a system of telecommunication companies, led by the Bell Telephone Company and later by the AT&T Corporation, American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T), that dominated the telephone services industry in North America fo ...

. The New York City headquarters building was sold to

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

in 1992 and the company relocated its headquarters to 32 Avenue of the Americas (which had no room for the statue) and many operating functions across the Hudson River and about forty miles west to a wooded campus purchased nine years previously in

Basking Ridge, New Jersey Basking Ridge is an Local government in New Jersey#Unincorporated communities, unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located within Bernards Township, New Jersey, Bernards Township in the Somerset Hills region of Somerset ...

. The statue was installed in front of the main entrance to the new building in 1992. In 2002, AT&T sold its Basking Ridge property and moved down the road to Bedminster Township bringing the statue. Those facilities had previously been the headquarters of the AT&T Long Lines division and home to the company's national network operations center.

Present owners

In November 2005, SBC (once a wholly owned subsidiary of the

AT&T Corporation AT&T Corporation, an abbreviation for its former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, was an American telecommunications company that provided voice, video, data, and Internet telecommunications and professional services to busi ...

—a '' Baby Bell'') acquired AT&T. In a move designed to capitalize on the national and global name of its former parent,

San Antonio, Texas San Antonio ( ; Spanish for "Anthony of Padua, Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the List of Texas metropolitan areas, third-largest metropolitan area in Texa ...

-based SBC renamed itself AT&T Inc. In 2009, the new AT&T removed the statue from the Bedminster Township, New Jersey location and later installed it in the lobby of its new headquarters at the Whitacre Tower in

. The statue was moved yet again in 2019 from the Whitacre Tower to AT&T's Discovery District in Downtown Dallas.

References

External links

PhotoImage of 1941 telephone directory
{{coord missing, Texas Bronze sculptures in Texas Outdoor sculptures in New Jersey Outdoor sculptures in Manhattan Outdoor sculptures in Texas AT&T Buildings and structures in Dallas 1914 sculptures Gold sculptures in the United States Statues in Texas Nude sculptures in the United States Personifications

History

Relocation to New Jersey

Present owners

See also

References

External links