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Foo Dogs

Whoo, boy, I kinda thought this story would break at some point.
Universal Hub: Foo fighters: Chinatown, city, Big Dig contractor in statuesque brawl.
Boston Herald: Dogfight over taken relics.

Foo Dogs, also frequently called Lions, are those twin statues that guard buildings.

When the Chinatown gate plaza was built, the contractor didn't think they could guarantee the existing Foo Dogs could be moved without breaking them. As I understand, 2 of the 4 were already in not-so-great condition. So it was agreed--and who paid whom for this agreement, I don't know--that replacement Dogs would be made. And that's what seems to have happened. As is standard for surplus construction materials, the old ones became property of the contractor.

Two ended up at the "Big Dig House" in Lexington, MA...a private property made of Big Dig waste materials, commissioned by the Vice President of one of the biggest contractors. I first saw them in pictures in an architecture magazine story on the house. (Will try to find the link later...[UPDATE: Here it is on the designer's own website: Big Dig House]) Now that the house is for sale, people are realizing someone essentially pulled an "Elgin Marbles" on Chinatown.

Also unknown to me is the relative quality of the new dogs vs. the old ones. Let's just say I have not heard them compared favorably.

When the new Dogs were ready to be installed, some in the community objected to having them on both sides of the gate. They normally go only outside a gate, to frighten away bad chi. But it was too late, because the pedestals were already in on both sides. Anyway, that's why only two are there now, with empty pedestals on the other side. (They do seem to make nice game board tables, though, don't they?)


[UPDATE 2: The Sampan did a story on the gate earlier this year, and mentioned the new lions:

"Earlier this year, four new lions identical to the originals and costing more than $6,000 each were purchased while construction crews were working on the soon-to-be-completed Chinatown Park. The contractor, Modern Continental, which now owns the old statues, feared they would have broken during removal and reinstallation and thus decided to completely replace them. Only two have been installed so far. Interestingly, the new lions are from Xiamen, a southern city of Mainland China."]