10. Diana of the Tower in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 79th and Fifth Avenue
As architectural taste has morphed from concrete effigies in the human likeness to sleek-lined abstract sculpture and angular design, some rooftop statues have found homes in museums. One such sculpture is a 13-foot copper statue of the Roman goddess Diana on tiptoe, drawing her hunting bow. The statue was a rotating weathervane atop the original Pennsylvania Station from 1893 until 1925, when the station was demolished. The original — the only female nude sculpture designed by Augustus Saint-Gaudens — is housed in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
A half-size bronze cast is displayed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s American Wing. Similar to City Hall’s Lady Justice, Diana of the Tower was constructed by the William Mullins Studio, but it was a custom piece commissioned by the Pennsylvania Station architect Stanford White. The original Diana was in place on a night in 1905 when White was shot to death in the building’s theatre in a sensational lovers’ triangle. The murder was dubbed ‘The Crime of the Century’ in the newspapers.
Next, check out the locations of Grand Central’s original eagles!