Pegasus Architectural Sculptures in the Brooklyn Museum Sculpture Garden, August 2007

Four Pairs of Pegasus Figures
Attributed to Harry Lowe (American, dates unknown)
From the New York City Fire Service Pumping Station, Neptune Avenue at West 23rd Street, Coney Island, Brooklyn, designed by Irwin S. Chanin
Limestone

On loan to the Brooklyn Museum from the City of New York, Accession # L.2003.7.1-4

These sleek, modernist versions of Pegasus, the flying horse of classical mythology, once flanked the entrances to the New York City Fire Service Pumping Station that still stands on Neptune Avenue between West Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Streets. The station boosted water pressure for fire fighting in outlying areas of Brooklyn. These four pairs of winged horses arise from stylized curving forms that suggest waves or clouds. Their compact double profiles reflect the Art Deco style of the industrial building whose entrances they once adorned. The streamlined design style was widely used in the 1920s and and 1930s.

Text from the Brooklyn Museum label.