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Nipper, the RCA dog, is a 14-foot statue on the roof of the Maryland Center for History and Culture on Park Avenue, Baltimore, according to a 2026 Associated Press report. A separate 1996 Baltimore Sun account tells of a 14-foot, 1,700-pound Nipper that stood on a Russell Street rooftop for over 22 years, was sold in 1976 and was brought back to Baltimore in 1995 to 1996 after about two decades in Virginia.
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Nipper (Baltimore)
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Site-level location · 39.2969° N, 76.6189° W
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The story
The Baltimore Sun's 1996 account of a 14-foot, 1,700-pound Nipper tells of a sale, an exile and a public fundraising campaign. The dog stood for "over 22 years" on a Russell Street rooftop, perched beside a big Victrola, until 1976, when the crumbling statue was sold for $1 to a Virginia collector, to the outrage of Baltimoreans who equated their home with the big dog. He then spent about two decades in a back yard in Fairfax, Virginia.
The way back was paid for by donations. According to the Sun, the City Life Museums raised $25,000 through private donations to bring the restored statue home for Baltimore's Thanksgiving parade in November 1995, and Thomson Consumer Electronics gave $7,500 toward his return. In April 1996 he was due to be paraded from Pier 6 to the museums' new exhibition centre, with plans to mount him on a roof on the East Baltimore campus.
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WHAT TO EXPECT
A 14-foot statue of Nipper sits on the roof of the Maryland Center for History and Culture, beside a larger-than-life phonograph according to a 2026 AP report. Visit Baltimore describes the statue as hard to miss on the museum roof. The museum's own hours and admission apply to the interior.
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On the roof of the Maryland Center for History and Culture, Park Avenue, Baltimore. The museum's own hours and admission apply to the interior.
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