August 12, 2025
JOE LAMBERTI/COURIER POST via Imagn Content Services
The bronze statue of former Philadelphia Mayor Frank Rizzo was removed from outside the Municipal Services Building in June 2020 amid civil unrest and protests. The sculpture has been stored out of sight in the city's public art collection since then. The Philadelphia Art Commission will vote Wednesday on a proposed settlement to return the statue to its original owners.
Five years after the bronze statue of former Philadelphia Mayor Frank Rizzo was removed from outside the Municipal Services Building and placed in storage, the city's art commission will vote Wednesday on whether to transfer ownership of the sculpture back to the group that originally had it built.
The 9-foot-tall statue of Rizzo, who served as the city's police commissioner and later mayor from 1972 to 1980, became a frequent target of vandalism in the years before it was removed at the height of civil unrest following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020.
UPDATE: City will return controversial Frank Rizzo statue to original owners
The Frank L. Rizzo Monument Committee, the group that commissioned the statue in 1998, filed a lawsuit against the city immediately after the removal in an effort to take back possession of the sculpture. The group includes Rizzo's son, former City Councilmember Frank S. Rizzo, and others seeking to find a future site for Rizzo's likeness.
At the time the statue was removed, former Mayor Jim Kenney said it "represented bigotry, hatred, and oppression for too many people," including Black and LGBTQ communities that endured a record of police brutality and discrimination under Rizzo's administration.
The monument committee's lawsuit defended Rizzo's legacy and said the sculpture, made by artist Zenos Frudakis, holds symbolic importance to the city's history
“The statue is a unique piece of art with immense sentimental value that cannot be properly compensated by money damages,” the committee said in its complaint.
As early as 2017, the city already had planned to relocate the Rizzo statue due to a series of acts of vandalism and broader national conversations about the removal of monuments for controversial historical figures. A white hood was placed over the head of the Rizzo statue in 2016, mimicking the garb of the Ku Klux Klan, while in other instances eggs were thrown at the statue and it was defaced with messages including "fascist" and "black power."
The Kenney administration expedited the statue's removal in June 2020, citing additional vandalism during the George Floyd protests and the city's pending plans to renovate Thomas Paine Plaza. The 2,000-pound statue has been stored in the city's public art collection ever since.
On Wednesday afternoon, the Philadelphia Art Commission will vote on a proposed settlement between the city and the Frank L. Rizzo Monument Committee to officially remove the statue from the city's public art collection and transfer it to the group in exchange for ending the litigation.
"This review fulfills a promise made to Philadelphians and comes after thoughtful consideration of the diverse perspectives of our residents," Art Commission spokesperson Bruce Bohri said in a statement.
If approved, the proposed settlement would require the city to transport and turn the statue over to the Rizzo committee within 90 days at a location either in the city or the surrounding suburbs. The city also would agree to pay the committee $80,000 for damage done to the statue during its removal.
Under the terms of the settlement, the statue will only be permitted to be placed on private property unless a location is specifically approved by the city. The statue also can't be visible to passersby or placed within 20 feet of any public right-of-way.
The proposed settlement also notes the agreement would not have any impact on outstanding litigation related to the contentious statue of Christopher Columbus at Marconi Plaza in South Philadelphia. The Kenney administration placed a plywood box around that statue weeks after the Rizzo sculpture was removed, and there were a series of tense confrontations at Marconi Plaza between groups standing for and against the statue's future there. A Pennsylvania judge ordered the city to remove the box from the statue in December 2022, and a lawsuit was filed against the city the following year over its actions.
In another decision last week, a Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court judge ruled that the Kenney administration violated the city's charter by renaming Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples' Day in 2021. A lawsuit challenging the name change had been filed by the Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations, Councilmember Mark Squilla and other groups. In that case, the judge ruled the Kenney administration's executive order bypassed required approval by City Council.
The Frank L. Rizzo Monument Committee has not disclosed where it would seek to display the Rizzo statue if it the settlement with the city is approved.
