NY Public Library Lions
NY Public Library, 5th Avenue @ 41st Street
Edward Potter, 1911
The stone mascots of the New York Public Library were originally named Leo Astor and Leo Lenox, after the library’s founders John Jacob Astor and James Lenox, but Mayor LaGuardia renamed them during the Great Depression for the virtues he thought most important: “Patience” (on the south side) and “Fortitude” (on the north).