vip in the city

Remember me to Herald Square

Passing through a drizzle-slicked Herald Square while running errands this evening…

This small, trapezoidal park was named for The New York Herald newspaper, which had its offices and plant one block north. Those headquarters were built by McKim, Mead & White in 1894; eventually, the building was demolished, and The Herald was sold to the owners of the New York Tribune. Not all Herald memorabilia was transferred to the new owners, however: the clock and bronze statuary – the 10-foot figure of Minerva and 7-foot bellringers Gog and Magog (a.k.a. “Stuff and Guff,” who knew?) — which had adorned the roof of the Herald building, were gifted to New York University. The school lent them in perpetuity to the city for the clock monument at Herald Square, designed by Aymar Embury II in 1940, where they have remained ever since, ringing in the hours on the James Gordon Bennett Monument’s bell.

The park underwent a $1 million restoration several years ago and reopened in 2000. Last September, a newly pristine Stuff and Guff emerged, burnished and restored under the auspices of the Municipal Art Society, the Parks Department, the Art Commission of the City of New York and the 34th Street Partnership.

Tags: Herald Square, statues