In this self-portrait Child conveys his great love for the masonry trade and for his religion. The figure of Child holds a Bible under his right arm and blueprints under his left. The building behind Child is the LDS Tenth Ward (800 East 400 South) where Child served as bishop for 19 years. Hanging on the walls are the hand tools of the skilled masonry craftsmen Child sought to honor.
This monument is an example of the superb masonry workmanship for which Child was known. The flagstones in the walls were cut by hand and meticulously laid with perfectly even joints. The weight of the cantilevered canopy is supported by a mammoth 62-ton stone behind the monument.
Sculptor Maurice Brooks created the larger-than-life portrait of Child. The brick pants were particularly troublesome to make. Brooks modeled the pants from two stacks of unfired bricks. The bricks were then disassembled, numbered, and fired. The firing, however, made the numbers unreadable and the pants had to be rebuilt like a puzzle.
Child was very pleased with the way the stone coat hung naturally over the pants. “I know it is egotistical,” he wrote, “but in my travels, which include Europe, I have never seen a better looking or more interesting coat.”
Hortense Child’s audio interpretation of The Monument to the Trade sculpture