{"id":16430,"date":"2020-05-10T16:37:10","date_gmt":"2020-05-10T20:37:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/?p=16430"},"modified":"2020-05-11T08:48:49","modified_gmt":"2020-05-11T12:48:49","slug":"9-dwight-boston","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/2020\/05\/10\/9-dwight-boston\/","title":{"rendered":"Sculptures Of Poodles, Angels, Eagles Make This Row House Stand Out From Staid Neighbors"},"content":{"rendered":"

For some years, I\u2019ve wondered about a row house at 9 Dwight St. in Boston\u2019s South End.<\/p>\n

It stands out from its staid brick neighbors because white sculptures seem to bubble out around the door and first-floor window, then down the front stairs, along the wrought iron fence, and peek out of the shrub. There are poodles, angels, cherubs riding stylized dolphins, little children praying, classical\u00a0women carrying vases on their shoulders, picturesque peasants, an owl.\u00a0The grill over the front doors is festooned with eagles and sailing ships, lions and flowers and proud women. The fence\u00a0has a gate topped by an arch featuring fleur-de-lis spikes and bells. It’s topped by eagles.<\/p>\n

A friend pointed me to a brief history of the neighborhood from the Eight Streets Neighborhood Association, which attributed the artworks to Phillip Ligone<\/a>. The South End group reported about six years ago: \u201cAt 9 Dwight Street, you\u2019ll find an unusual array of sculptures. This was done by the owner in the 1960s and 1970s. He was a blind artist named Phillip Ligone. Ligone passed away in 2002 and his long-time partner, Ramona Petillo (as of 2014) still lives there. Ligone was born in Boston, the only son of Italian immigrant parents. He moved to the South End in the early 1950s and in 1983 said he intended to live in the South End until he dies \u2013 which he did. He got interested in sculpture through his father, who sculpted statues for cemeteries. Most of the statues you see are from molds that Ligone purchased in Italy. In a 1983 South End News article, Ligone says that he hadn\u2019t worked in 20 years because he had two large lottery wins that he lived off of.\u201d Which is quite a tale.<\/p>\n

\"Sculptures<\/a>
Sculptures decorate doorway of 9 Dwight St., Boston, Feb. 16, 2018. (Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Phillip J. Ligone was one of the past owners of the 1875 home, according to state land records. He may have been born May 26, 1924, and died June 11, 2002, according to the website advancedbackgroundchecks.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A photo in the May 18, 1981, edition of The Boston Globe shows Phillip Ligone wearing protective goggles and an apron as he \u201ccleans his statues on Dwight street in the South End.\u201d<\/p>\n

\""Phillip<\/a>
“Phillip Ligone … cleans his statues on Dwight street in the South End” in this photo in the May 18, 1981, edition of The Boston Globe.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And that’s all I’ve been able to learn so far. Well, the only other time a Phillip Ligone seems to appear in The Boston Globe archives is a July 14, 1951, article about a Philip\u2014with one L\u2014J. Ligone, identified as a 26-year-old antiques dealer living at 30 Rose St. in Boston. That Ligone and a man \u201cwho said he is a painter\u201d were alleged by police to have stolen antiques from a mansion in Newport, Rhode Island.<\/p>\n

\""2<\/a>
“2 Boston Men Held in $10,000 Antiques Theft at Newport,” The Boston Globe, July 14, 1951.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

If this is the kind of coverage of arts, cultures and activisms you appreciate, please support Wonderland by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And sign up for our free, weekly newsletter<\/a> so that you don’t miss any of our reporting.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\"Sculptures<\/a>
Sculptures decorate the front of 9 Dwight St., Boston, Jan. 4, 2019. (Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Sculptures<\/a>
Sculptures decorate front of 9 Dwight St., Boston, Feb. 16, 2018. (Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Sculptures<\/a>
Sculptures decorate front of 9 Dwight St., Boston, Feb. 16, 2018. (Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Sculptures<\/a>
Sculptures decorate front of 9 Dwight St., Boston, Feb. 16, 2018. (Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Sculptures<\/a>
Sculptures decorate the front steps of 9 Dwight St., Boston, Jan. 4, 2019. (Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Sculptures<\/a>
Sculptures decorate 9 Dwight St., Boston, Jan. 4, 2019. (Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The front doors of 9 Dwight St., Boston, Jan. 4, 2019. (Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Door<\/a>
Door of 9 Dwight St., Boston, Feb. 16, 2018. (Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Sculptures<\/a>
Sculptures decorate front of 9 Dwight St., Boston, Feb. 16, 2018. (Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Sculptures<\/a>
Sculptures decorate front of 9 Dwight St., Boston, Feb. 16, 2018. (Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Poodle<\/a>
Poodle sculptures decorate front of 9 Dwight St., Boston, Jan. 4, 2019. (Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Sculptures<\/a>
Sculptures decorate 9 Dwight St., Boston, Jan. 4, 2019. (Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"One<\/a>
One of the sculptures hiding in the shrub in front of 9 Dwight St., Boston, Jan. 4, 2019. (Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Sculptures decorate doorway of 9 Dwight St., Boston, Feb. 16, 2018. (Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Sculptures<\/a>
Sculptures decorate front of 9 Dwight St., Boston, Feb. 16, 2018. (Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Sculptures<\/a>
Sculptures decorate front of 9 Dwight St., Boston, Feb. 16, 2018. (Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For some years, I\u2019ve wondered about a row house at 9 Dwight St. in Boston\u2019s South End. It stands out from its staid brick neighbors because white sculptures seem to bubble out around the door and first-floor window, then down the front stairs, along the wrought iron fence, and peek out of the shrub. There […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16495,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[100,105,112,582],"tags":[37,744,711],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16430"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16430"}],"version-history":[{"count":31,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16430\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16512,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16430\/revisions\/16512"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}