Central Park In Bronze

Location: 63rd Street, east side. Dancing Goat is on the southern wall of the Central Park Wildlife Center (“the Zoo”); Honey Bear is on north side.

Artist/Designer: Frederick George Richard Roth

Materials: Bronze

Installation: 1937

Funding: Unknown

 

Before the Zoo was remodeled in 1988, Roth’s whimsical creatures stood on either side of the entrance to the old cafeteria. Today, both figures are decorative niche fountains in the Zoo’s eastern wall. Five frogs spray water at the feet of the bear; five ducks spray the feet of the goat.

 

Roth, who was the chief sculptor for New York City’s Parks Department, created many animal statues in the city. His most famous work is the life-sized statue of the sled dog Balto, also in Central Park and not far from the Zoo.