Photo Credit: Roving Rube. Viewpoint: West side of Broadway between 79th and 80th; 2/28/02 2:24 PM.
Notes (Roving Rube): This nymph and her three sisters are above the two entrances to the Apthorp Apartments on the Upper West Side, providing a formal welcome to residents and their guests.
The Apthorp was constructed by William Waldorf Astor (rather, he said "make it so") on family-owned land, covering a full block to 12 stories high (see , taken from the other side of the building), and claimed to be the world's largest apartment upon its completion in 1908.
The shows the statuary on the opposing entrance; if you see a white building with Roman-looking statues strewn liberally about, chances are its architect studied at l'Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris.
"The Beaux Arts architects ... employed frescoes and pleasing images of the botanical world -- garlands of roses, sheaves of wheat, the acanthus leaf [Rube's note: see curly leaf at top left of photo atop pilaster (a pilaster is a square column)] ... Above all, they embraced the standard of perfection, the human form itself. Their buildings are embellished with caryatids and Greek and Roman gods and goddesses, with putti and angels ... It was the Beaux Arts that found New York a city of sooty brownstone and left it one of bright marble ... It was the Beaux Arts style that made New York dare to be extravagant and also to be beautiful." (Beaux Arts New York, by David Garrard Lowe)