A sculpted eagle taking flight from Grand Central Station, New York City
Photo credit: L. Tripoli
Toodling around Manhattan’s 42nd Street before a meeting in midtown, I cross to the Pershing Square Café side of the street and head toward Bryant Park. I don’t know what makes me look toward the taxi stand at Grand Central Station, but when I do, I notice an eagle sculpture that I have never noticed before. How many times have I walked through that entrance into the terminal? I am reminded that when in the city, I need to remember to look up.
When I am back home, I look up the eagle and learn that it has quite an interesting past. Almost a dozen eagles were apparently situated around an earlier iteration of Grand Central. When that depot gave way to the current station, the eagles were sent elsewhere. This one was apparently residing in a suburban yard in Bronxville before returning to Grand Central during the station’s restoration in the late 1990s. Neil MacFarquahar, Rara Avis: An Iron Eagle Returning to City Roost, N.Y. Times, June 20, 1997.
Interested in learning more about the eagles of Grand Central? You might like these resources:
- A New Yorker’s quest to find and preserve Grand Central Station’s lost iron statues
- History Detectives Special Investigations: Cast Iron Eagle
- Grand Central centenary: 100 fascinating facts
—Lori Tripoli
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