Why would designers choose to decorate some of the city’s loveliest facades, fences, and clocks with bugs?
When it comes to the honeybees on this once-working bank clock on 14th Street and Eighth Avenue, it probably has something to do with what bees symbolize—industry.
The clock—affixed to the Roman Temple–like 1897 New York Savings Bank building—once featured a beehive, a symbol of thrift.
The moth-like critter on the right comes from one of the posts surrounding the entrance to Trinity Church Cemetery, the burial ground in the 150s off Riverside Drive that gently slopes down to the Hudson River.
The dragonfly and caterpillar mosaic, by Andrea Dezso, are part of the Bedford Park Boulevard subway stop in the Bronx.
Why two garden bugs? It must have something to do with the fact that this is the New York Botanical Garden stop.
Carved into the concrete of the Schwarzbock Building on Lexington Avenue and 32nd Street is this moth surrounded by mulberry leaves.
It makes sense: The building was once the headquarters of Schwarzbock looms. Another insect image, a silkworm adorns the building’s beautiful clock.
Tags: Andrea Dezso, insect design motifs, insects carved into buildings, Insects in New York City, New York Savings Bank building, Schwarzbock Building, Silk Clock Lexington Avenue, subway art Bronx, Trinity Church Cemetery
February 7, 2011 at 7:16 am |
So fascinating, I love to see the little creatures incorporated into our architecture!
xoxo
Karena
Art by Karena
February 7, 2011 at 2:25 pm |
“The clock—affixed to the Roman Temple–like 1897 New York Savings Bank building—once featured a beehive, which symbolize thrift.”
my old bank, the manhattan savings bank (bought by republic savings bank, bought by hsbc) also had as its logo a beehive. can’t find an image tho’!