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• Date: 1881
• Sculptor: Olin Levi Warner
• Medium & size: Terracotta heads, just over lifesize
• Location: 128 Pierrepont at Clinton, Brooklyn Heights

The Brooklyn Historical Society building

The Brooklyn Historical Society was founded in 1863 as the Long Island Historical Society. Its current headquarters was constructed in 1878-1881 to a design by George B. Post, who also brought us the Williamsburgh Savings Bank (1870-1875, now the Weylin), the old New York Times building on Park Row in Manhattan (1888-1889), the New York Stock Exchange (1901-1903), and the City College of New York campus on Convent Avenue (1903-1907).

The facade of the Brooklyn Historical Society’s headquarters is in a style variously called Renaissance Revival, Romanesque Revival, or Queen Anne. It includes terracotta heads by Olin Levi Warner. For the past twenty years, I’ve been compiling a database of outdoor sculptures in New York City, and this is the earliest example of figurative sculpture attached to a facade that I know of. (My Instagram feed showing outdoor sculptures in New York City in chronological order is based on the database.) These terracotta heads predate by ten or fifteen years the explosion of architectural sculptures that followed the Columbian Exposition in 1893 and became known as the City Beautiful movement.

Sculptured heads flanking the main entrance

On the left side of the main entrance is the head of a Viking. I don’t believe there’s any evidence that the Vikings made it to Brooklyn! If you’re into Vikings, check out the Leif Ericsson memorial in Brooklyn: here and here.

On the right side of the entrance is an Indian. By this point the American frontier was far enough away from New York that Indians were being romanticized instead of demonized. See my comments on John Quincy Adam Ward’s Indian Hunter in Central Park.

Sculptured heads, upper level

Six of the heads by Olin Levi Warner are high above the sidewalk, in the curved spaces between the upper row of huge arched windows that flood the building’s interior with light. The subjects of the heads present a fascinating survey of the historical figures that educated Americans of the late nineteenth century considered most important.

On the Pierrepont Street side are two sculptures. One is Benjamin Franklin, who at the time was one of America’s most famous men. See here for two sculptures of him in Manhattan, both dating to around 1872 – just before the Brooklyn Historical Society headquarters was built.

Also on the Pierrepont side is Columbus, the subject of a number of monuments in New York City. A lifesize sculpture was created in 1867 by Emma Stebbins, who sculpted Angel of the Waters in Central Park at around the same time. Two over-lifesize sculptures of Columbus stand in Manhattan, both erected for the four- hundredth anniversary of his arrival in the Americas. See here and here (1892 and 1894). There’s also a rather lovely bust of Columbus in the Bronx (1925) by Attilio Piccirilli, master stone carver and an sculptor in his own right of works such as the Maine Monument and the Firemen’s Memorial.

On the Clinton Street side of the Brooklyn Historical Society are four more heads. This one represents Johannes Gutenberg, inventor of the printing press with movable type. There’s a full-size bronze of him in Manhattan.

Another head represents Beethoven. Central Park and Prospect Park have busts of Beethoven dating to 1884 and 1894. Both were commissioned by German-American immigrants, among whom choral singing (including Beethoven’s works) was popular.

Next is Michelangelo, representing visual arts and architecture. There are no sculptures of Michelangelo outdoors in New York City.

And finally: Shakespeare. Central Park has a lovely sculpture of him by John Quincy Adams Ward, dedicated in 1872. My blog post on it includes more on Shakespeare in New York City. See also my post on Shakespearean actor Edwin Booth.

So overall, the heads on the Brooklyn Historical Society’s facade represent prehistoric times in America (the Viking and the Indian), the discovery of America (Columbus) and a famous early American (Franklin), and the arts and technology (Shakespeare, Michelangelo, Beethoven, Gutenberg).

More

• In Getting More Enjoyment from Sculpture You Love, I demonstrate a method for looking at sculptures in detail, in depth, and on your own. Learn to enjoy your favorite sculptures more, and find new favorites. Available on Amazon in print and Kindle formats. It includes chapters on the Columbus Monument at Columbus Circle, the Maine Monument, and the Firemen’s Memorial, all mentioned above.
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