Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument (New York) - Development and Construction

Development and Construction

First suggested in 1869 little was done to create the monument until 1893. In 1893, the New York State legislature established a Board of Commissioners for a monument to the soldiers and sailors who had served in the Union Army during the Civil War. Originally set to be built at fifty-ninth Street and Fifth Avenue then at Mount Tom (83rd Street & Riverside Drive) the project was delayed for may years because many organizations in the city could not agree on a site for the monument. When the final site was selected, the winning design for the monument had to be redesigned for the new site.

Ground was broken for the monument on September 21, 1900. Mr. Guggenheimer turned the first spadeful of dirt. About 200 people were present at the ground breaking ceremony. The first stone was laid in January 1901. On the cornerstone was a simple inscription saying that the monument was erected by the citizens of New York. It was finally dedicated on Memorial Day, 1902 with Governor Theodore Roosevelt officiating. During the dedication, the monument was unveiled following a parade of Civil War veterans up Riverside Drive. The memorial bears the simple inscription: "To the memory of the brave soldiers and sailors who saved the Union". The monument cost $300,000 to erect. Granite quarried from the Lacasse Quarry located at Derby, Orleans County, Vermont, was used in the construction.

The white marble monument was designed after a public competition by architects Charles and Arthur Stoughton. Their design was known as the “Temple of Fame.” The ornamental features were carved by Paul E. Duboy (1857–1907) who also was the architect of The Ansonia, an apartment building also on the Upper West Side. Inspired by Greek antiquity it is based on the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates in Athens. The monument takes the form of a peripteral Corinthian temple raised on a high base, with a tall cylindrical rusticated cella, that carries a low conical roof like a lid, ringed by twelve Corinthian columns. Plinths at the entrance to the raised terrace are incised with the names of the New York volunteer regiments and the battles in which they served, as well as Union generals.

The monument stands at the center of a complex sequence of balustraded formal paved terraces and stairs that rationalize the steep natural slopes to north and west. Its siting at a curve in Riverside Drive makes it visible from a distance, a desirable feature for a monument in the City Beautiful movement, of which this Beaux-Arts monument is a prime example. Originally, there was a planned stairway to the river and a battlemented wall to the south but these were never built. It appears that the area south of the plaza was simply paved, or perhaps treated with pebbles. On the south side of the monument are two mounted cannons. On the west side of the memorial, the back steps to the terraces offer views of the Hudson River.

The monument measures approximately 29 meters tall. The initial design called for the monument to be crowned with a statue of Peace "of heroic size" but this was not done. The sculptured bronze door at the base of the monument, now kept locked, was originally open to visitors. Currently, the interior is open one day annually at Openhousenewyork. It is entirely revetted with the same veined white marble used on the exterior and a mosaic floor underneath a dome.

It is in two stages, with six niches in the lower stage, corresponding to the exterior basement and an upper stage of tall Corinthian pilasters flanking plain panels; above is a ribbed interior dome with a central lantern. The mosaic on the floor is a star centered on a bronze relief medallion of the US arms, with crossed oak and laurel sprays.

The colonnade carries an entablature adorned with a full frieze containing the inscriptions "To the memory of the Brave Soldiers and Sailors Who Saved the Union," A cresting of eagles alternating with cartouches surmounts the cornice. The monument terminates in a low conical roof crowned by a richly decorated marble finial.