Toby the Red Griffin

Tucson, Arizona

In 1938 a fire broke out in Tucson's Carnegie Library, destroying its central rotunda as well as the stone Griffins -- half lion, half eagle -- on the building's upper parapets (The rest of the building was knocked down in 1990).

Tucson artist Joe O'Connell remembered the Griffins, and wondered if one might have survived. So in 2009 he created Toby, a 12-foot-tall red metal Griffin, placing him across the street from the spot where the library had stood. Footprints -- half lion, half eagle -- are embedded in the cement leading to the statue, and at its center is a "heart" of bright LEDs that turn on with the city's streetlights.