Electra

Electra is the 23-foot-tall, golden statue atop the eastern end of the tiled roof of the 1925 Alabama Power Building at 600 18th Street North. Crafted by Edward Field Sanford, Jr., originally Electra was to be called "Divinity of Light." Holding six lightning bolts, Sanford said the statue represented, "the state of Alabama rising triumphantly electrified." Weighing 4,000 pounds, the statue was originally cast in bronze and then gold leafed.

Erected in 1926, The Birmingham Post ran a column stating of the mythical love affair between the heroine and Birmingham's man of iron Vulcan. This affair was one known to most locals by the time Vulcan was moved atop Red Mountain in the 1930s.

In 1996 to celebrate her 70th anniversary, Electra was completely cleaned and regilded.

References

• Kemp, Kathy (October 19, 2003) "Art show may rekindle mythic love." Birmingham News.