Greybar rats are a symbol of the city's maritime history (8 photos)

The figures of small gray rodents are desperately trying to get into the Graybar Building. And the unusual composition was created as a sign of respect for the maritime history of New York.





It is logical that city dwellers, like all other people, try to prevent the invasion of rats. And this monument has become the only architectural dedication of its kind in the city, which embodied the animals in real form and became a kind of monument to how to keep rats at bay.



Graybar Building

The Graybar Building, completed in 1927, was designed to pay homage to New York City's position as a key transportation hub, with its trains and seaport. The cables that connect the canopy to the building itself are designed to resemble a ship's mooring lines.





And just like the real mooring lines, rats are diligently climbing them, quickly moving their paws and desperately trying to get onto the "ship" that is the Graybar Building. The rodents are hampered by conical structures located at the top of the lines. They do not allow the sculptural parasites to reach the building itself, just as they do not allow the rats to get onto the ship.



This building was the headquarters of the Graybar electrical wholesaler from 1927 to 1982. It recently reopened its sales office in its old building.



The rats disappeared from their mooring lines in the 20th century, but a special note was made during the building's restoration in the late 1990s to "replace missing rats."



And here they are again, still unable to get on the ship. The architects also implemented another funny joke: the carved rosettes to which the mooring lines lead depict the heads of smart rats, which, presumably, managed to get on board before the barriers were put up.