Civic Virtue (Big Boy, Fat Boy, Rough Guy)
"Civic Virtue" is not to be confused with "Civic Fame" (the statue, modeled by Audrey Munson, on top of the Municipal Building). "Civic Fame" debuted in 1922 in front…
Columbia University’s Alma Mater (Mary Lawton, model)
"Alma Mater" is a famous sculpture at Columbia University, installed in 1904 in front of the Low Memorial Library (formerly the campus library building). The sculptor Daniel Chester…
Diana (of Madison Square Garden)
The statue of "Diana" that graced the old Madison Square Garden (at Madison Square) is now at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. A copy is in the Metroplitan Museum of Art. "Diana"…
Double Check (Seward Johnson’s businessman sculpture in Liberty Park)
Seward Johnson's 1982 sculpture "Double Check" for Liberty Park (near the World Trade Center) showed a very lifelike businessman sitting in the park. The businessman survived…
Four Continents at U.S. Custom House—Who posed for America?
The "Four Continents" group of statues (Africa, America, Asia and Europe) by sculptor Daniel Chester French for the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House in lower Manhattan were put in…
Iggy (iguana sculpture on the Lone Star Café)
New York's Lone Star Cafe at 61 Fifth Avenue (corner of 13th Street) featured country music acts from 1976 to 1989. A 40-foot polyurethane-and-steel iguana sculpture named "Iggy" was…
Inspiration of Washington Square (nickname of model Audrey Munson)
MacDougal Alley, in the area of Manhattan's Washington Square North, was the home of many famous sculptors and artists in the early 1900s. Audrey Munson (1891-1996), a popular model, was…
La Gran Manzana (sculpture opposite Radio City Music Hall)
The sculpture "La Gran Manzana" (Spanish for "The Big Apple"), by Mexican artist Enrique Cabrera, was unveiled on December 7, 2022 at 1251 Avenue of the Americas in Manhattan,…
Leaping Louie (Prometheus statue in Rockefeller Center)
Prometheus was the Greek god who brought fire to mankind. Paul Manship's statue of him is in Rockefeller Center, just above the skating rink. An early, 1930s-1940s nickname was "Leaping…
Library Lions (Patience and Fortitude; Lord Lenox and Lady Astor; Leo and Leonora)
There are two lions in front of the New York Public Library at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. The "reading between the lions" joke is not new. Here are some of their names. 11 December…
Metronome
"Metronome" is that hideous thing of smoke and numbers and a needle on the Virgin Megastore building on Union Square South. It was installed in 1999 and perhaps we should give it time,…
Miss Liberty & Queen of Lost New York (Hettie Anderson, model)
Harriette ("Hettie") Eugenia Anderson was born in 1873 in Columbia, South Carolina, and lived most of the rest of her life in Manhattan's Harlem. She probably posed for three U.S.…
Our Lady of New York
"Our Lady of New York" is the statue in an altar at St. Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth Avenue. Unless you're referring to the Botero. 14 April 1942, New York Times, pg.…
Purity or Virtue (1909)
The huge statue of a snow-white woman, "Purity" or "Virtue," stood briefly in Times Square in 1909. Pictures of the statue appear frequently in books about Times Square, but the…
Reflecting Absence (World Trade Center Memorial)
"Reflecting Absence" by Michael Arad and Peter Walker was selected from over 5,200 entries in the World Trade Center Memorial Competition. http://www.wtcsitememorial.org/fin7.htmlMichael…
Rockefeller Center’s Atlas (modeled after Benito Mussolini?)
The Greek mythological figure of Atlas holding up the heavens is a 1937 sculpture by Lee Lawrie (1877-1963) that stands in front of the International Building of Rockefeller Center, across the…
Siegel-Cooper’s Statue of the Republic (Minnie Clark, model)
The Statue of the Republic, by sculptor Daniel Chester French (1850-1931) was the largest and most symbolic of the Chicago Columbian Exposition (World's Fair) of 1893, Irish-born Minnie Clark,…
Snowflake (Fifth Avenue & 57th Street)
Each winter before Christmas, a huge snowflake of lights appears above the intersection at Fifth Avenue and 57th Street. This snowflake of lights was first introduced in 1984. In 2002, it became…
Spirit of Communication (Golden Boy)
Want to own a piece of New York City history? Evelyn Beatrice Longman (1874-1854) designed this 1916 statue of "Electricity," or "Spirit of Communication" (nicknamed…
Stairway to Nowhere (nickname of Vessel at Hudson Yards)
"Vessel" is the name of the Thomas Heatherwick-designed structure at the Hudson Yards on the West Side of Manhattan, opened on March 15, 2019. The honeycomb-like structure has 154 flights…