New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has announced that the rooftop of the David N. Dinkins Municipal Building in Manhattan will open for free public tours starting in June. The initiative, part of a $6 million improvement project, will allow visitors to access the cupola directly beneath the building's iconic 25-foot-tall gilded statue, Civic Fate, and enjoy panoramic views of the city.
The move highlights public access to civic art and architecture, while also bringing renewed attention to the statue's model, Audrey Munson. Munson was a famed early 20th-century supermodel whose likeness appears in numerous New York sculptures, but her career was derailed by scandal and she spent most of her life institutionalized. The tours celebrate the building's namesake, the city's first Black mayor, and aim to democratize access to a significant but previously restricted public artwork.