World's Largest Clothespin

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Public art

✓

Current

Listed, not yet checked · Oct 2026

This Big Thing is recorded as still being here.

Clothespin is a 45-foot Cor-Ten steel sculpture by Claes Oldenburg at Fifteenth and Market Streets in Center City Philadelphia. Developer Jack Wolgin commissioned it through the city's Percent for Art programme, and it was put in place on 25 June 1976. The two sides of its steel spring are meant to read as the numerals 76.

Private to your Passport.

PLAN YOUR VISIT

No recommended arrival yet

We have not checked a recommended place to arrive or stop here yet.

This takes you to the Big Thing itself. If stopping, choose a safe and legal place nearby.

World's Largest Clothespin

This pin marks the Big Thing itself. If stopping, choose a safe and legal place nearby.

39.95239° N, 75.16558° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

Claes Oldenburg's Clothespin has stood at Fifteenth and Market Streets since the Bicentennial year, a 45-foot sculpture in Cor-Ten steel that Philadelphians took as their own.

Developer Jack Wolgin commissioned it in May 1974 for his Centre Square development, through the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority's Percent for Art programme, which requires that one percent of the budget for new construction or major renovation go to site-specific public art. The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia says Wolgin's interest was sparked by an Oldenburg drawing on a 1972 exhibition poster. It describes the finished work as a 45-foot, 10-ton Cor-Ten steel sculpture and records that a crane lowered it onto its pedestal on 25 June 1976.

Not everyone welcomed it. The encyclopedia notes critics who asked whether it was a joke on Philadelphia, and some who suggested that a giant hoagie or pretzel might have been more suitable. It also says Mayor Frank Rizzo criticised it on public television. Oldenburg replied that "the sculpture is indeed a giant clothespin, but, at the same time, it transcends a common clothespin". He compared it to the Liberty Bell, saying "both have a crack down the center", and said of the spring, "It forms a perfect 76." PhillyVoice adds that the work has been compared to the embracing couple in Brancusi's The Kiss.

Oldenburg died in July 2022 at the age of 93. In WHYY's report that month, Griffith of the Association for Public Art said, "It has really become to symbolize the city." In a February 2026 report on plans to redevelop the Centre Square office complex, the Inquirer said the complex is also known as the "Clothespin building" for its four-story pop art sculpture, and a photo caption said Oldenburg's Clothespin stands in front of it.

Add a photo

PRACTICAL

Plan your stop

WHAT TO EXPECT

Stands at the entrance to SEPTA's 15th Street Station at 15th and Market Streets, within view of City Hall, according to PhillyVoice in 2022. The steel is left to weather, and the Association for Public Art says it turns a warm reddish-brown.

ACCESS

Seen from the public street at 15th and Market Streets in Center City, at the entrance to SEPTA's 15th Street Station.

COMMUNITY