I juxtapose this Gormley figure, standing on a setback of this building, with the ornate Victorian facades and banners of its neighbors. The New York Life Insurance building, designed by Cass Gilbert in 1928, stands on historic ground. It held Commodore Vanderbilt’s railway terminal, and then became an arena featuring the shows of P.T. Barnum and later Patrick Gilmore. When Gilmore’s lease expired, the site was occupied by the first Madison Square Garden, which was demolished in 1889 and replaced by Stanford White’s spectacular Moorish Madison Square Garden II. White was murdered on top of this building in 1906, while dining in its roof garden restaurant. He was shot by the jealous husband of his mistress, launching the greatest scandal of the age. Gormley’s figure seems to be pondering the meaning of it all.