NEW YORK (AP) — A Brooklyn building owner has hired security guards and installed a metal gate to protect a work by the elusive British graffiti artist Banksy.

The New York Post reports that the rolling gate went up Friday over a wall in the Williamsburg neighborhood where Banksy spray-painted two geishas and a bonsai tree.

Cara Tabachnick, whose family owns the building, says the goal is to preserve the artwork “so it can be viewed and enjoyed.”

Banksy announced on his website that he would undertake a “residency” on the streets of New York this month.

Most of his works that have gone up have been tagged over by others, and some have been completely erased.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said last week that graffiti ruins property and is “a sign of decay.”