The Surrogates by Laura Neadle

On a visit to lower Manhattan a few years ago, I noticed a building with statues surrounding the facade. The building was laced with scaffolding, and work was being done to restore and clean it. Zooming in with my camera, I discovered these statues were amazing works of art, and contrasted with the architecture of the structure. Once home, I delved into what the building was: The Surrogates Court. The statues were depictions of prominent New Yorkers such as Peter Stuyvesant, De Witt Clinton, Cadwallader David Colden and James Duane. Here is my interpretation of part of the building.

Note: an interesting thing is that James Duane, represented by one of the statues, was a mayor of New York City, assisted in writing the constitutions of New York and the United States, and was a judge. He purchased a tract of land in upstate New York comprised of 5,000 acres. It eventually became the town of Duanesburg, which is where I grew up.