According to some well respected historians, William (Don Julian) Workman was a huge fan of Honore de Balzac, the late French novelist and playwright from the same time period of William Workman. Somewhere in the early part of the twentieth century, the Balzac Family sent the pillar, which was designed by famed Dadaist Jean Arp, over from France as a gift. It was stored for many years before it wa
s placed at its current location. The current accepted interpretation of the Pillar of Balzac or Pilier de le Balzac (as referred to by the French), is that the individual slabs that form the pillar itself are meant to represent the individual members of the Balzac and Workman families [Honore de Balzac, William Workman, Ewelina Hanska Balzac (Wife of Honore). Maria Nicolasa Urioste de Valencia (Common Law wife of William Workman), Anna Hanska (Step Daughter of Honore), Joseph (Jose) M. Workman (Son of William), Josephine Belt Workman (Wife of Jose), Mona Darkfeather (Granddaughter of William and silent film actress) and Antonia Margarita Workman (Daughter of William)]. The three spikes at the top of the pillar represent the indestructibility of the friendship’s past, present and future. There is, however, some point of contention as to what the spiral represents. One school of thought is that it is meant to bind the two families as one. The other being that the spiral represents the love between the families transcends from the past to the present and onto the future. Twice a year on May 20th and November 17th, to celebrate Honore de Balzac’s and William (Don Julian) Workman’s birthdays, fans will gather around the pillar and eat Vanilla pudding or Blancmange on top of a slice of pound cake in their memory. Blancmange was a favorite desert of Balzac, while pound cake was a favorite of William Workman’s. Vanilla pudding is very similar to Blancmange, hence why it is often substituted with vanilla pudding.
