Dalmatian & Taxi

New York, New York, United States

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Public art

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Listed, not yet checked · Oct 2026

This Big Thing is recorded as still being here.

Spot was installed in 2018 as a fiberglass sculpture by artist Donald Lipski of a Dalmatian balancing a real, motorless Toyota Prius taxi on her nose outside Hassenfeld Children's Hospital on East 34th Street in Manhattan. NYU Langone gives its height as 38 feet.

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Dalmatian & Taxi

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Site-level location · 40.7435° N, 73.9731° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

A Dalmatian balancing a New York taxi on her nose sounds like a tall tale, but Spot is a real sculpture, and the taxi is a real car. NYU Langone says the yellow cab is a Toyota Prius, donated by Toyota and stripped of its motor.

Spot was reported in May 2018 outside Hassenfeld Children's Hospital-34th Street, the new children's hospital within NYU Langone's Kimmel Pavilion, on East 34th Street near First Avenue in Manhattan. The hospital was due to open that June, according to Time Out. NYU Langone credits the work to New York-based artist Donald Lipski and says it was constructed in a Wisconsin factory and brought to the city by truck. Lipski's website adds that Chris Collins modeled the dog and that FAST of Sparta, Wisconsin, fabricated it.

Reported size varies. NYU Langone gives 38 feet; Lipski's website calls Spot four stories tall, and the firm that managed the project, Public Art Services, describes her as two and a half stories tall. That firm says the car has no engine or seats, but its lights work, and its wipers work when it rains.

Lipski has said he wanted to make something "so astounding it would distract even those arriving for the most serious procedures." Public Art Services notes that the Hassenfeld family, who started the Hasbro toy company, were major donors to the hospital, and quotes Lipski: "I wanted it to be about toys and play in some way." The same firm records that Spot was fitted with a custom face mask in June 2020.

Reports from 2018 placed Spot outside the entrance of a working children's hospital, so if she is still there she is best admired from the sidewalk, with consideration for patients and families arriving.

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WHAT TO EXPECT

Spot was installed in 2018 outside the entrance of Hassenfeld Children's Hospital-34th Street, on East 34th Street near First Avenue in Manhattan. Public Art Services has said the taxi's lights and wipers work. It is an outdoor sculpture at a working hospital, so view it from outside.

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Installed outdoors at the hospital entrance on East 34th Street near First Avenue, Manhattan, in 2018 (latest dated accounts 2020 and 2021). Be considerate of patients and families.

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1.4 km away

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