The New York Life Eagle

The New York Life Eagle. . , In 1890, architect Stanford White gave the commission for The New York Life Eagle to Augustus Saint-Gaudens on behalf of The New York Life Insurance Company. Augustus sketched its conceptual form and the sculpture was carved in marble by his brother Louis St. Gaudens to be cast in an edition of three for New York Life's frontier expansion buildings in Kansas City, Omaha, and Saint Paul. , In the heart of downtown Saint Paul, the beautiful building's three-story main entrance was capped by this powerful allegory of protection. The majestic bird is poised on a ledge of rock, wings spread to shelter its nest of eaglets, its talons grasping a threatening serpent. , In 1967, preservationists led by William and Watson Davidson and Georgia Ray DeCoster saved the sculpture when the building was demolished and installed it outside the Pioneer Building parking ramp. , Public Art Saint Paul secured title to the sculpture in 1999 and undertook its restoration. In June, 2004, the sculpture was raised to this prospect overlooking the Mississippi River valley where bald eagles abound along the bluffs and palisades.