Columbia Street Waterfront District Sculpture Garden

Once a neglected junkyard before being purchased by Ben van Meerendonk in the 1980s, this property in the Columbia Street Waterfront District of Brooklyn, New York is now an eclectic sculpture garden. The lot, which is not publicized or marked on any maps, is one of those rare oddities that one simply stumbles upon. For van Meerendonk, it is a way to make people smile and showcase his zany taste in art.

Today, stone lions guard the Piet Mondrian-inspired gate. Replicas of works by Jeff Koons and Edvard Munch share space with a sculpture of a cat dressed as a sultan and a skeleton riding on a metal horse.

Painted oblong faces fill the windows of the adjacent building and a row of wooden owls line its base. The sculpture garden is full of oddities chosen by van Meerendonk, and the contents change from time to time. 

While the quirky outpost is not open to public wandering, it can be fully viewed from the street and enjoyed by all passersby.