The Ruffin Building’s iconic Calder mobile has been sold. Here’s what’s replacing it.

The Ruffin Building atrium will look a little different starting next week.

If you were to walk into the Ruffin Building’s atrium in downtown Wichita right now, you’d be greeted with the 47-feet-tall mobile designed by American sculptor Alexander Calder.

But in the next couple of weeks, when you look up, you’ll instead see a 1934 Stearman Kaydet flying above you.

Jon Cyphert, director of real estate with Ruffin Properties, told The Eagle of the building’s plans Thursday.

So, why the change?

The Bank of America is selling the Eléments Démontables mobile to the Calder Foundation in New York to become “a prominent part of their collection,” said Diane Wagner, Bank of America spokesperson.

Calder mobile 09 Mar 1975, Sun The Wichita Eagle (Wichita, Kansas) Newspapers.com

The mobile was commissioned in 1974 by the Fourth National Bank and Trust Co. and has been described as one of the largest mobile sculptures in the world . Wagner said part of the proceeds of the sale will be donated to the arts.

“We believe these investments help to build communities and in turn have a positive impact on the lives of our clients and teammates,” Wagner said in an email to The Eagle.

Cyphert said the plan is to remove the mobile Monday, Oct. 14, then hang the plane quickly after.

“I think the removal is only going to take a day. I don’t know how long it’ll take us, probably another day, to hang the plane,” Cyphert said.

The Ruffin Building is a prominent office building located on Broadway in downtown Wichita. With nine floors, some of the building’s tenants include Sedgwick County government offices, law firms, the Petroleum Club of Wichita and more.

Ben Sauceda, the president and CEO of the Kansas Aviation Museum , said there’s a lot of significance to showcasing aviation in Wichita.

“We’re excited to be able to showcase Wichita aviation manufacturing at such a great place like the Ruffin Building,” Sauceda said.

Sauceda said the idea to showcase aviation in the Ruffin Building has been around for about a year, but has taken off in the past three weeks.

“We followed back up on it, and the folks from Ruffin came out. We identified ... the best suited plane,” Sauceda said.

The choice of what plane to feature was the main question, and it was finally decided that a 1934 Stearman Kaydet was the perfect choice.

“It’s a beautiful, nice yellow so it’s easily visible, that was one piece,” Sauceda said. “Stearman is such a name that’s synonymous with our community and it really signifies Wichita’s importance in not just from a general aviation standpoint, but also military, because the Kaydet was such an important aircraft in World War II ... and training early on.

“There’s just such a historical significance to this aircraft being able to showcase in downtown Wichita, where a lot of the heart of early aviation manufacturing took place.”

Sauceda said they are planning to hold a dedication ceremony, but the date has yet to be determined.