Albany residents have long cherished their giant dog statue, Nipper, a 28-foot (9-meter) tall white terrier with black ears perched atop a warehouse for nearly seven decades. The statue, recreating the famous image of a dog listening to a phonograph used by RCA, has become a local icon. Parents point it out to children from the highway, and Nipper's likeness adorns key chains, ball caps, and hoodies.
"When I think of Nipper, I think of Albany. When I think of Albany, I think of Nipper," said Cody Hitt, enjoying a recent evening at a bar near the statue. However, this pride is now tempered with concern for Nipper's future. The unused four-story warehouse beneath the statue recently received a red placard with a white slash, warning firefighters and first responders of potential danger. "It's definitely not a good thing for Nipper. He is attached to that building, so if something happens to it, it's going to be hard to take him off," said Cara Macri, director of preservation services for the Historic Albany Foundation.
History of Nipper
The original Nipper was a real dog in late 19th-century England, earning his name by nipping at people's ankles. His owner's brother, Francis Barraud, immortalized him in the painting "His Master's Voice," showing Nipper intrigued by a phonograph. The Gramophone Company purchased the image in 1899, and it was later acquired by RCA in 1929. Albany's Nipper, with a composite body over a steel frame, was placed atop the building in the late 1950s to advertise an RCA appliance distributor.
While other Nipper statues exist, including a 14-foot (4-meter) one in Baltimore, Albany's version is larger and stands out in a skyline dominated by a modernist state government complex. The beloved dog appears on socks, caps, stickers, and shot glasses at the Fort Orange General Store, where owner Erica Cubello says they are bestsellers. "He is kind of like our unofficial mascot here at Fort Orange, as well as the city of Albany," said Cubello, wearing a Nipper hoodie.
Uncertain Future
Despite Nipper's fresh appearance, the building below has sat unused for at least a decade, with chipped paint and ongoing foreclosure litigation. Plans announced a decade ago to develop apartments and retail never materialized. In 2024, the Historic Albany Foundation listed the building as endangered. In March, the city posted a caution placard, and a local columnist sounded the alarm.
Albany Mayor Dorcey Applyrs is working to add Nipper to the city's historic landmarks list, which could protect the dog and building from damaging changes. Separately, a state board has nominated the warehouse district for historic registers, making the building eligible for preservation tax credits. There are no serious plans to move the roughly four-ton (3,600-kilogram) statue, which would be logistically challenging and expensive. "There's a whole redevelopment downtown. You could put him there. You could put him on the riverfront," Macri said. "But he's a big dog."
