52nd Street and 5th Avenue, N.W. corner. W.K. Vanderbilt residence, detail.
1925
52nd Street and 5th Avenue, N.W. corner. W.K. Vanderbilt residence, detail.
In the early 1880s, as stone cutters were completing work on the William K. Vanderbilt mansion, the home's well-loved architect Richard Morris Hunt discovered that the artisans had created his likeness as a tribute. The statue of Hunt as a stone-cutter was installed on the roof over the entrance to the house. That home was demolished in 1926 and it is unknown if the statue was saved.