Lion With Wings

I thought this was Griffin, however a quick Google and a peek at Wiki informed me that a Griffin has the head and wings of an eagle with a lion's body. A search of "Lion with wings" brings out a lot of stuff which I don;t have the time to read through. If anyone knows of something, I'd be interested to hear it.

Be that as it may... I was looking out the window of one of the schools today and spotted this wonderful statue of a ____ in the forecourt of the building behind the school.. It's a newish building, nothing overly special but it has this statue guarding the entrances to the apartment towers. Very strange.

Be that as it may... it's an amazing statue. It's huge and bronze and a wonderful piece of art. I just have no idea why it's there.