Show JOKE WAS ON THE ARCHITECT inside story of statue on home of vanderbilt son of builder says figure figaire of tired maon ma on on fifth avenue mansion was wag joke on and tribute to his hf father new york new yorkers who thronged thron ged fifth avenue last fall to gut get a glimpse of t the broadway dand dandy Y the deposed bacchante tile atie brides dollar anark and other oilier curious sculptures and carvings wat adorn sto stably NY st Th thomas onins church chur cli missed one f of the avenues nn us oldest architectural ew rr for more than three decades it became lie known today the figure of a tired 1 0 lias rested ed and sunned himself 0 on lins t the la proof roof res of the old W V IC K vander blit at fifty first street with in a stones throw of st thomas gazing down 10 lo n at the fashionable equi pages and richly clad crowds that flowed through the famous thoroughfare the few architecturally n 11 ret u rally inclined persons who knew of the existence of the lie vanderbilt believed that the figure vils as erected its as a tribute to a mason who was killed during the construction st of the house but It lebard hunt architect who with tits late father It Ichard hunt sr built the house said tilt ligure figure was nas at once 8 joko joke on and a tribute to the hunt the vanderbilt homo home said bald mr bir hunt ildas was built during the transition period when it was customary to adorn the root roof with a sculptured figure 6 ol of soine sort the masons and sculptors tort were continually after ray my father tt tc tell them what kind of figure lf h planned to use but ho kept putting them off saying there was plenty ol 01 time to decide after the house woo wai finished finally when walking through till tb nearly completed building my fachet observed a screen screen in tho the largo large hallway and directed the workmen to re move it behind the screen was atta a sculptor iceson quite well known fit at that time putting the alie nil touches on a study of a mason at al rest refit with hit his square paper cap on till lill head and n mallet in tits his hand ut had used as tits his model my father who frequently put on a masons cap and took un an active part in the work air vanderbilt liked tho the figure and how low it happened that the th tila mason soll was vaa put up the only other figure of an artisan gracing a wealthy home in new york so ho far as could be learned la a heroic statue of a steel ler walli li stands stand on oil the lawn before the charles BL schwab on drive mr schwab was a steel himself before lie he was discovered by b the late andrew carnegie |