Thomas Jefferson statue removed from New York City Hall

The statue of Thomas Jefferson was removed on Monday from the New York City Council chamber it had resided in for 187 years. 

Art handlers spent most of the day removing the 844-pound painted plaster statue from its pedestal, protecting it with foam and a wooden frame, and moving it down the stairs on a delicate pulley system. 

This follows a unanimous vote by the city’s Public Design Commission on Nov. 15 to banish the statue from City Hall because Jefferson had owned slaves. Some council members asserted, “working under the gaze of Jefferson is uncomfortable and even emotionally painful.” 

Daneek Miller, a Democrat from Queens, had demanded the statue be removed by the next body-wide meeting on Tuesday. 

Minority leader Joe Borelli, a Republican from Staten Island, called the move an attempt to “sideline history.”

“That Jefferson is holding the bill of rights in the very statue is lost on those who have benefitted from his contribution,” Borelli told the New York Post. 

The move has also been criticized for reducing access to the historical statue by moving it from the public City Hall to the private New-York Historical Society, which charges $22 for admission. 

The NYC statue was gifted to City Hall in 1984 by Uriah Phillips Levy, the first Jewish Commodore of the U.S. Navy and admirer of Jefferson as a champion of religious liberty. Levy purchased and began restoring Monticello, Jefferson’s home, after reportedly meeting the Marquis de Lafayette while in France to study advanced naval tactics. 

"I consider Thomas Jefferson to be one of the greatest men in history, the author of the Declaration and an absolute democrat,” Levy wrote in an 1832 letter. “He serves as an inspiration to millions of Americans. He did much to mold our Republic in a form in which a man's religion does not make him ineligible for political or governmental life."

The bronze statue cast from the New York plaster version continues to stand in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, DC. It was made by French sculptor Pierre-Jean David and also gifted by Levy.