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LOS ANGELES’S
WATTS TOWERS
WATTS TOWERS
Los Angeles, California, USA
Simon Rodia (1879–1965), Designer/Builder
Ribottoli, Italy
1954
The Watts Towers are one of a few primary
examples of twentieth-century, nontraditional
vernacular architecture and American naïve art
evident in our urban built landscape. While the
towers were originally created as a means of
singular self-expression by the artist, follow-
ing their completion they became an iconic
landmark and visual symbol for the City of Los
Angeles in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Begun in 1921 and completed over a period
of thirty-three years in 1954, the towers consist
of seventeen ...