WIND CHIMES - 1967
Described by Van Sant as a “sculptural screen,” the Wind Chimes form an array on the south side of the Macy’s building (previously Robinson’s Department Store) at the Irvine Company’s Fashion Island outdoor mall.
The sound-making aspects of the work resemble domestic wind chimes. Aluminum pipes are suspended from the inside of bell-shaped domes. “The coverings reduce the sound of the massive sculpture to a pleasant level. Seventy-three coverings each contain 10 pipes.” [1]
The top of each covering is attached by chain to the center of the bell above making five perpendicular rows of bells. Suspended from an overhang at the top of the building, the rows are arranged in a three-two formation. The front three rows comprise 15-bells each, while the back rows each have 14. A plaque to the sculpture’s lower right reads: "The World's Largest Wind Chimes, September 11, 1967."
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Robinson's Department
101 Newport Center Dr, Newport Beach, CA 92660
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1967
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William L. Pereira & Associates
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Bronze, aluminum
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80 ft. x 10 ft.
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Unknown
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The Irvine Company.
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Extant and in situ. However, some aluminum pipes are missing and the work looks in need of cleaning. Additionally, while the chimes emit a delicate tinkling sound when the wind blows, media sources report that the Chimes are “now-silent.” [2]
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Top: Job 4428-1K: William L. Pereira and Associates, Robinson's (Newport Beach, Calif.). © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10).
Center: TVS digital record. Image is pre-2004.
Bottom: Wind Chimes close-up, October 19, 2024. Photograph by Janet Owen Driggs.
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The Irvine Company’s Fashion Island outdoor mall anchored the Company’s masterplan for developing “a patch of dirt that hosted the 1953 Boy Scout Jamboree...into the city’s preeminent business and retail center.” [3]
“The landmark bells of Robinson’s were a momentous installation marking Newport Beach’s first step of welcoming the next generation of residents...The elegant chimes reverberated from what was immediately established as the center of town.
The now-silent wind chimes left a lasting impression on the city’s residents. “My first memory of Fashion Island is the opening of Robinson’s in 1967...I actually remember when those bells at Robinson’s used to ring in the wind. It was a beautiful sound.” [4]
Listen to the sounds made by the Wind Chimes HERE.
The question is, have the bells been silenced? How? (Were they electronically amplified when installed?) Notably, in 1969, Van Sant made Water Fall: an 80 ft. tall, end-of-building sculptured wall for the Robinson’s Department Store in San Diego’s Fashion Valley, which featured flowing water, lights, and amplified sound.
Claims that this work is “the largest wind chime in the world in 1967, according to the Guinness Book of World Records,” [5] or that it was indeed “The Largest Wind Chime in the World,” may be overstated. Searches for “largest wind chime,” “Van Sant,” “wind chime,” “wind,” and “chime,” returned zero results related to Tom Van Sant in the 1969 Guinness Book of Records, and the (renamed) Guinness Book of World Records from 1970 and 1972. [6]
[1] “Fashion Island Wind Chimes,” Atlas Obscura, April 18, 2022
[2] “Fashion Forward,” Newport Beach Magazine, August 25, 2012
[3] Ryan Lilyengren, “Newport Center/Fashion Island’s 50-year history to be told by the pioneers who planned and built it,” Irvine Company press release, November 16, 2016.
[4] “Fashion Forward,” Newport Beach Magazine, August 25, 2012
[5] Tommy Walker: “The World's Largest Wind Chimes Sound,” October 12, 2021
[6] "Fashion Island Wind Chimes,” Atlas Obscura.
