Tony Rosenthal's 5 in 1 at 1 Police Plaza: The Story Behind New York's Largest Metal Public Sculpture

Key facts

• 5 in 1 was commissioned by New York City in 1971 and assembled in 1973–74 at 1 Police Plaza in Lower Manhattan's Civic Center.
• The sculpture consists of five interlocking Cor-Ten steel discs, stands about 35 feet high, measures roughly 28 by 42 feet, and weighs about 75,000 pounds.
• Rosenthal titled the work as a metaphor for New York's five boroughs joined as one; each disc weighs about 15,000 pounds.
• The commission cost $80,000 with $20,000 for installation, funded by a $150,000 art budget attached to the new Police Headquarters.
• Budget limits left the steel unpainted at first; graffiti led to it eventually being painted the bright red specified in Rosenthal's maquette.
• Tony Rosenthal (born Bernard J. Rosenthal, August 9, 1914 – July 28, 2009) created more than 100 public works over seven decades.
• His best-known work, Alamo (1967), a 15-foot painted Cor-Ten cube at Astor Place, was the first postwar contemporary sculpture purchased by New York City.
• Rosenthal studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, the University of Michigan, and Cranbrook Academy of Art, and assisted Alexander Archipenko.