Lion-Fronted UES Mansion Gets Board's OK, Despite Skepticism

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A community board panel gave a lukewarm endorsement to a pair of lion sculptures that the billionaire owner of an Upper East Side mansion wants to install at the entrance to his home.

Alexander Rovt, a Soviet-born real estate investor, spent $33 million in 2011 to buy the Henry T. Sloane Mansion on East 68th Street between Fifth and Madison avenues. The lavish limestone structure was built in 1905 by architect Cass Gilbert — at the behest of Sloane, a carpeting magnate, who moved there with his daughters after his wife divorced him.

Rovt has spent the past decade meticulously restoring the mansion to its former glory, replacing its windows and mansard roof and completely gutting the interior. Now, with that work nearly done, two finishing touches remain: Rovt wants to install a privacy fence to deter passersby from sitting on his stoop, as well as a pair of bronze lion sculptures to flank his front door.

Plans for the fence and the lions were presented Monday to Community Board 8's landmarks committee, which must sign off on the plans since the mansion is within the Upper East Side Historic District.

The three-foot-tall lions would sit atop limestone balusters that were topped with decorative urns when the mansion was first built, but which have sat empty in recent years, presenter Alexander Jacobs told the board.

"Ownership would like to put lions on top of these, instead of the urns," Jacobs said of Rovt. "He feels there’s something missing with the ornamentation."

There would be precedent, Jacobs said, since the mansion's interior already has other lion ornamentation. The fence, meanwhile, would address a pressing need: visitors walking from nearby Central Park have lately been "pretty much camping out, having lunch and smoking cigarettes" on Rovt's front steps, according to Jacobs.

When it came time for the board to weigh in, the reception was less than roaring.

"I agree that it needs something. But the lions, I’m not sure," member Marco Tamayo said.

"I have to agree with Marco, that I am more than a little dubious about the lions," Anthony Cohn chimed in.

Fellow members Gayle Baron and Michelle Birnbaum echoed the critiques, with Birnbaum deriding the 33-inch-tall lions as "a little puny."

A dissenting view came from Elizabeth Ashby, who had personal reasons for favoring the felines.

"Members of my family have actually owned lions and I’ve cuddled lions and I love lions," Ashby said. "And this is not a style of architecture that’s restrained and laid back."

Ultimately, board members got over their skepticism and voted to recommend approving both changes. The full community board was expected to weigh in during its Wednesday night meeting.