UPDATE: Detroit Zoo's Beloved Hippo Sculpture Needs TLC

The oval cavity in the torso of the lovable hippo that greets visitors at the main entrance of the is the least of her worries. It's her cracks that are starting to make her look under the weather.

Zoo officials have wrapped Sleeping Hippo, the work of Russian artist Samuel Cashwan (1900-89), in plastic and placed temporary guardrails around her to keep visitors from playing on her.

"She is showing her age. (She has) some cracks, but she can be saved," said Patricia Janeway, the zoo's communications director. "We are awaiting warmer temperatures to perform the restorative measures."

The cast terrazzo sculpture was donated by the Dayton Hudson Co. in 1989. Before coming to the zoo, the the hippo was in front of the entrance to Hudson's at from 1969-89. It is a replica of a hippo made for Northland Mall in 1954.

The birth of a hippo

Patch reader Judith Bernardi has a special connection to the Sleeping Hippo. Her father-in-law, Aldo Bernardi, cast the hippopotamus for Cashwan.

“My father-in-law was friends with Mr. Cashwan and he asked Aldo to cast it,” Bernardi said. “The hippo from Northland was a different one. My husband's father cast the hippo for ”

Aldo and his wife Daria Bernardi were born in Italy. The couple met in France, married and moved to Detroit in 1949 before settling in Hazel Park.

In 1956, they opened a shop in Hazel Park on 10 Mile Road and Stephenson Highway called Aldo’s Art and Décor. The business specialized in handmade indoor and outdoor garden statuary. In 1969, the store was leveled during the construction of Interstate 696. After a brief retirement, the couple rebuilt at 31691 Dequindre in Madison Heights. The showroom and workspace built by the Bernardi family is now the home of John Deere Landscapes.

Bernardi said her husband, Bert, remembers the sculptor Cashwan well. “He gave my husband a cute little jitter machine he made out of metal,” she said. "The jitter machine was one of Cashwan's fun little art projects. Bert was about 15 or so."

A website dedicated to Cashwan’s art includes this list of his work in the Detroit area:

• reliefs for St. Aloysius Church, 1936
• Edwin Denby Memorial, 1939
• "Whale," Southland mall, 1968
• "The Philosophers," Congregation Shaarey Zedek, 1970
• an untitled work, Manufacturer’s Bank, 1971

His work located on the Michigan State University Campus, where Cashwan was a sculpture supervisor, includes:

• Abbott Street Entrance Marker, 1938-1939
• “Three Musicians,” 1940
• Music building and Olin Memorial Hosptial reliefs, 1939
• "Prometheus," Union Building, 1948

Win tickets to the Detroit Zoo

Do you have fond memories of Sleeping Hippo and the zoo? Share them with Patch readers and you could win four tickets to the Detroit Zoo.