Horses, dogs, cats, squirrels—New York building facades are decorated with a huge variety of animal figures.
Yet I’m pretty sure this is the first bat I’ve ever come across.
He’s enjoying the warm evening on a playfully ornamented Queen Anne row house on West End Avenue at about West 76th Street.
Often a particular animal symbolizes something. Honeybees adorn bank buildings because they stand for industry and thrift. Owls convey knowledge, which is why they tend to be built on schools and libraries.
But a bat? I think it’s just the architect with a dark sense of humor.
Among the other animals adorning the row house or its neighbors are rams, owls, and somethings that look to be inspired by sea horses.
Tags: bat carvings New York City, bats on NYC buildings, Queen Anne row houses New York City, Upper West Side buildings, West End Avenue
Ephemeral New York 
May 23, 2016 at 7:29 pm |
How about the building on the south side East 57th Street between 1st and Sutton that has a spider on one of the window security bars…
May 23, 2016 at 7:35 pm |
I don’t know that one! Can you take a photo?
May 24, 2016 at 3:12 am |
Historically, bats are symbols (in the western world) of death, and perhaps demons. I prefer to think the artist was Chinese, and believed the bat to be a symbol of happiness and good fortune.
June 16, 2016 at 3:31 pm |
[…] A creepy bat on a West End Avenue row house (ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com) […]
May 28, 2018 at 4:24 am |
[…] bats, elephants, rats, rams, horses, squirrels—there’s a Noah’s Ark of animals decorating […]