10 Strange Statues and Monuments in Northern Virginia

By Matthew T. Eng, Offbeat NOVA

What comes to mind when you hear the words “Northern Virginia?” Maybe it’s something about the traffic or the job market. What else does everyone talk about when they live here, right? Maybe an image of high-priced homes and real estate comes to mind. One of the last things you would think about would be “weird and unusual monuments.” But here we are. There are several in the area that come to mind, from the oddly-themed statues in oversized business parks to the downright head-scratching advertisements of local businesses. These statues and monuments are often hidden in plain sight. Some have become local legends in their own right, with stories of their construction and placement toeing a thin line between truth and lore. 

Here’s ten strange statues and monuments in Northern Virginia.

1. Restaurant Phoenician Ship (2236 Gallows Road, Vienna)

The Northern Virginia area is familiar to a diverse array of cuisines from around the world. Virtually anywhere you go, you will find restaurants to satisfy whatever your appetite may be. 

If you are in the mood for the food of the Mediterranean, there is a place just down the street from the busy Tyson’s Corner area in Vienna called the Phoenicia Resto & Lounge. According to their website, the restaurant offers a “classic mezzo-style Mediterranean menu of dishes served in a laid-back environment.” Users on Yelp say the food served there is everything from absolutely “amazing” to “meh” and “just ok.” The hummus is a particularly good menu item, apparently. Part of that laid-back feel might be due to the large concrete model of a Phoenician ship directly adjacent to the restaurant. 

The concrete ship is built on the top of a roof of an underground garage. The ship is decorated with an ornate mosaic pattern, with floral accents near the hull and a criss-crossed line pattern on either side of the ship. The sail of the ship is also an advertisement for the restaurant, with the business logo also proudly displaying the likeness of a Phoenician ship. The figurehead at the prow of the landlocked ship resembles an eagle or some sort of bird. 

You can actually walk up a small bank of steps into an outside seating area and take pictures with the ship atop the garage. According to one user on roadsidemerica.com, the sail bearing the name of the restaurant was lowered in 2019. When Offbeat NOVA was there to capture the ship several months ago, the sail was thankfully back on. 

Having a ship as your design with the restaurant’s name makes sense. Phoenician’s were the epitome of trade, culture, and intellectualism in their time, all bolstered by their maritime dominance. Need more proof? If you’ve ever had a chance to ride Spaceship Earth at Epcot Center, the most famous line of the entire ride is “If you can read this, thank the Phoenicians.” 

The next time you are driving down Gallows Road on the way to mall, look to your left and thank the Phoenicians, or at least stop in for some of that hummus. 

2. Ductwork Tin Man (8441 Lee Highway, Fairfax)

When the tin man embarked on a soul-searching quest in the Wizard of Oz for a heart, I doubt he thought his journey along the yellow brick road would take him to Lee Highway in Fairfax. 

This “tin man” sits atop the Lee-High Sheet Metal building. HIs body is made completely of ductwork. A crude face with a smile is drawn on the unusually small statue. In fact, it’s small enough that the casual passerby would completely miss it while driving past. In recent years, it has shown signs of wear on the body, particularly its chest.

This particular statue should not be confused with the Tin Man Sheet Metal Fabrication, LLC, located in Manassas, VA. That particular business has a “tin man” in their logo, but no physical statue like at Lee-High Sheet Metal. The business is so proud of it that the statue is included in all of their advertisements at the front of the shop. Currently, the tin man is holding an American flag. If anything, the flag the statue is holding will help you spot it easier from the road. 

3. Vinyl-Lite Window Factory Sign (8815 Telegraph Road, Lorton)

This next one follows the same basic principle of the ductwork tin man. 

Atop the Vinyl-Lite Window and Showroom company sign in Lorton, VA, is a stark white mannequin holding (what else, but) a window. The mannequin is wearing a uniform of the company — another excellent product placement. The sign sits facing north on Telegraph Road on the edge of the large property and showroom building. Looking back at Google Street images, the digital sign was erected sometime between 2009 and 2012 without the man atop it. The earliest date where the figure is shown is October 2016. 

The property, like so many similar businesses, is adorned with American flags. According to the company website, Vinyl-Lite has been manufacturing and installing replacement windows for more than thirty years in the Lorton, VA, area. The mannequin is a reassuring message of their “personal, professional, and trustworthy local service.” Prospective customers know exactly what they are getting, even if they might miss that rather odd statue traveling along Telegraph Road. 

4. Spite Flamingo Lawn Decoration (5325 Franconia Road, Alexandria)

You may have heard of the phenomenon of “spite houses.” These are buildings constructed or modified to intentionally irritate neighbors and developers. Although there are many around the United States, some of the most famous are located in Northern Virginia, in particular Alexandria. But have you ever heard of a spite flamingo?

According to urban legend, the origin of a pink flamingo statue the height of a basketball backboard is based on a disagreement amongst neighbors. The overly tall lawn ornament stands at least twelve feet tall along Franconia Road in Alexandria. 

According to the Fairfax Underground message board, the statue has resided there for nearly thirty years. A rumor from one of the message board posters on Fairfax Underground solved the origin of the statue. The poster stated that someone in the county code enforcement office said that the owner of the house where the pink flamingo was wanted to make an addition to his home. The addition apparently required approval from his neighbors due to the size of the project. According to legend, the neighbors to their left declined, and Fairfax County told the homeowner that “in order to proceed, the addition would have to stay within (a certain amount of) feet of his home and no taller than (a certain amount of) feet.” In response to this, the owner put up the large flamingo conforming to the county’s specifications just to make the neighbor angry. 

One commenter pointed out the story’s likely falsity because of the process for approval of new construction solely resting in the hand of the county, not neighbors. Either way, it makes for an interesting piece of Northern Virginia lore. 

One particular user of that forum, “Hennessy,” said this about the statue:

“I like the flamingo. It sticks a finger in the eye of all the stick up the ass people who demand homes all be exactly alike.”

Fairfax Underground Message Board

In a historic neighborhood like Rose Hill, they are exactly right. Unlike a lot of other statues and monuments on this list, this one is assuredly something you can’t miss. 

5. Man Feeding Pigs/Man Eating Dog Food (1125 W. Broad St, Falls Church)

The Beyer family is no stranger to Northern Virginia. Don Beyer currently serves as a U.S. Representative for Virginia’s 8th congressional district in the heart of Alexandria, Falls Church, and Arlington. He previously served as the 36th Lieutenant Governor of Virginia from 1990 to 1998 and the United States Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein after that, from 2009 to 2013. 

Before Don Beyer began his storied political career, Beyer graduated from college and began working at his father’s Volvo dealership. He and his brother eventually bought the dealership from his father, expanding to nine in the Northern Virginia region. Back in the early 1980s, Don decided to place a sculpture at the front of his Volvo dealership in Falls Church. He was inspired by the work of his uncle, Richard Beyer, a World War II veteran of the Battle of the Bulge who abandoned a career with Boeing to pursue his passion of art and sculpture on the West Coast. Beyer was known for his overly eccentric art pieces, including an image of a man grabbing the breasts of a fish in Des Moines, Washington. 

After talking it over with his uncle, Don decided to commission a sculpture as an important landmark to the city. He ultimately chose a sculpture of a man feeding pigs, inspired by Richard’s family farm in McLean. The official title of the piece is “Man Slopping Pigs.” The statue was dedicated in a small ceremony on May 6, 1984. The statue is made of wood and dipped in cast aluminum. 

The sculpture depicts a man feeding five pigs at a trough. The man’s tongue appears to be sticking out as he is feeding the hogs. Although the sculpture is meant to merely represent a fondness for Richard’s childhood growing up on a farm near Washington, D.C., Richard Beyer’s personal sculpture website database notes in their description of the piece that it may actually represent “five bureaucrats at the government trough.” 

The statue sits on the on the corner of Beyer’s Volvo dealership today on West Broad Street in Falls Church, VA. Directly across from it at the Beyers’ KIA dealership sits another Richard Beyer original with a far more interesting origin. Unveiled at its present location on Gordons Street, “Man Eating Dog Food” depicts a life-sized man sitting down, eating what appears to be dog food from a can. Beyer described it as “our retirement plan,” whatever that means. Don’t ask Don Beyer, he doesn’t know or understand it either, apparently. From 2010 to 2012, the statue was placed on the streets of Lake Oswego, Oregon. The statue had obviously mixed reviews amongst the residents of Lake Oswego, with some loving It, while others simply confused by its intention. Why? Not only is the man eating dog food, he has a tail growing out of his backside as well. 

The statue made its way to the East Coast in 2014, and was unveiled opposite Beyer’s other sculpture as a posthumous tribute to the renowned artist. Richard Beyer died in 2012. Some news articles speculate that the sculpture was inspired by the Great Depression and Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath. Others owe it to the wonderfully odd mind of Richard Beyer himself. 

Either way, these two sculptures have made an impact on the Falls Church community and the Beyer family. Dan Beyer, grandson of Richard, was so inspired that he created two large bronze feet coming out the ground in front of the Beyers’ Alexandria, Virginia, Subaru location. 

Once again, we ask why? I think that will be left as a Beyer family secret. For us, we can drive by and simply enjoy the eccentric art installations. 

6. Scrap Metal Cowboy (114 Gordons Road, Falls Church)

Just down the street from the Beyer sculptures on Gordons Road is a ten-foot-tall cowboy made out of sheet metal. This piece is an excellent compliment to the tin man made out of ductwork in Fairfax earlier on this list. 

The cowboy is standing in front of the Dixie Sheet Metal Works building. His bright red and blue clothing, albeit faded now, is complemented by a head made of a wind turbine that sits beneath a cowboy hat. The cowboy is pointing to the south, perhaps to the main entrance into the building. His arm even has the likeness of an arrow. Given the proximity to the previous entry, one might assume the area along Gordons Road and W. Broad Street is a hub of roadside attractions. Two odd sculptures in one area is one thing, but three? That’s much more than just a coincidence. If you are ever in Falls Church, do yourself a favor and take a quick detour down the road to check out these interesting statues and sculptures. 

7. Giant Watering Can (8453 Richmond Highway, Alexandria)

Most people will know this next sculpture simply as the “Giant watering can.” The functional sculpture is located at the Holly, Woods & Vines garden center off of Richmond Highway in Alexandria, VA. The watering can is approximately eighteen feet tall and twenty feet wide. Several neon palm trees flank the watering can. In warmer weather, the sculpture actually flows water from its end into a flower pot resting in a small pond filled with water and decorative reptiles. Driving by, you can always see a customer or two marveling at the giant structure, especially when its flowing in the warmer months. The garden center also has a terra-cotta warrior statue in the middle of a gazebo among other similar lawn statues you can purchase. 

There is an identical can and flower pot in downtown Staunton, Virginia. That sculpture was made by local artist Willie Ferguson in the 1990s. Ferguson has several sculptures in an around the Staunton, VA, area. One would assume the giant watering can in Alexandria is also Ferguson’s creation. 

8. Fighter Jet Made of Coins (6400 Arlington Blvd, Falls Church)

Sandwiched in between two large office buildings just south of the mind-numbing Seven Corners area is a small and unassuming statue of a fighter jet covered entirely with pennies. The sculpture, called “Pennies from Heaven,” is the creation of artist Courtney S. Hengerer of Alexandria, Virginia. The sculpture is in the middle of a sitting area between the two high rise office buildings, complete with benches, an archway, and some halfway decent landscaping.  

According to an article in the Washington Post, the genesis of the project began back in 2007 as a campaign by the Crystal City Business Improvement District to commission artwork to commemorate the area’s connection to flight. In all, fifty works of art were commissioned, including “Pennies from Heaven,” in April 2008. The planes are reminiscent to other cities commemorating their history with repetitive statues, or “statue events:” think of the cow statues in Chicago, Mermaid statues of Norfolk, or the horse statues of North Carolina’s Outer Banks. 

The artist, Courtney S. Hengerer, described her take on the statue as “sort of monotonous, but meditative.” In all, over 14,000 pennies are covering the sculpture. The original location of the sculpture was in Crystal City at the BB&T offices on 23rd Street. Many of the other sculptures were later sold off after the campaign ended. When the office moved to its current location in Falls Church, so did the statue. It resides there today for office workers to enjoy in the sunshine. 

9. The Elk of Prince Street (318 Prince Street, Alexandria)

There is a statue in the heart of Old Town Alexandria that looks like something out of the television show Hannibal. A large bronze statue of an Elk stands atop the former headquarters of the Alexandria Elks Club on 318 Prince Street. The Elk is the unofficial basket of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, or “B.P.O.E.,” as its inscription reads directly above the elk’s head. The statue rests within the alcove of the building to this day. 

The Alexandria Elks Club Lodge #758 was founded in 1902 when the organization purchased property on Prince Street. A new, larger lodge was opened the following year on 318 Prince Street inside the red brick building. According to the Alexandria Times, the elk was constructed in Salem, Ohio, and weighed half a ton. The elks planned to sell the building in 1983, and hoped they would take their mascot with them. Then-Mayor Charles E. Beatley, Jr., refused, saying it was part of the “architectural fabric of the city.” The building is now made up of high-priced condominiums. Elks Lodge #758 ended up settling on 7120 Richmond Highway, in the former building of the Jolly Ox (better known as the Steak and Ale). 

10. The Tyson’s Tooth (1954 Old Gallows Road, Vienna)

Just down the street from Tyson’s Center Mall is a small single-family home that serves as the dental offices of Dr. Thomas A. McCrary, Jr. The charming building of the family business at 1954 Old Gallows Road is known as the “The Tooth House,” named after the “landmark six-foot statue” in the front garden. Dr. McCrary went so far as to market his business on a website of the same name. The molar sits the edge of the property partially hidden by several bushes. The tooth appears to be made of stucco, but definitely not concrete. A small wooden well is located in the background closer to the house. As far as emblematic statues that typify a business, this is our personal favorite in the area. 

This was of course not an exhaustive list and could not cover the entire breadth of Northern Virginia. What strange statues and monuments make your list?