Herald Square / Greeley Square Gateposts

New York, NY - 2014

Herald Square was the home of the New York Herald Newspaper, whose owner was famously fixated  with owls. One block south was Greeley Square, home to the Tribune Newspaper whose mascot was the eagle. When the NYC Department of Parks decided to renovate the parks in both squares, their plans included a pair of tall new gate post columns for each. I was commissioned to create a pair of cast bronze owls for the Herald Square gateposts and a pair of cast bronze eagles for the Greeley Square gateposts. 

In the first draft of the sculpture maquettes,  the eagles that I created appeared to be much more dynamic than the owls, so I made some changes. Owls have the ability to rotate their head completely around to face backwards, which inspired my new owl castings. Now  when viewers approached the gate, they saw an owl with no face.  As they entered the park and looked back to see the owl's face, it was looking down at a bronze cat I placed under a nearby bench. The sculptures were immediately popular with the public, but I had neglected to get my changes approved by the NYC Arts Commission. When I was called in to the commission to explain, the head of the commission said,

“Mr LeFevre, you wouldn’t see a cat in the middle of Herald Square.” and I responded, 
“True, but would you see a pair of lions roaming around on Fifth Ave in front of the New York Public Library either?”