Monuments Grand Army Plaza Brooklyn Photo Tour

Pat Young

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
Featured Book Reviewer
Joined
Jan 7, 2013
Location
Long Island, NY
To recall the end of the Battle of Gettysburg I visited the second largest Civil War monument in New York. Grand Army Plaza is a massive memorial series covering 11 acres at the entrance to Prospect Park. Prospect Park, designed by Central Park's Frederick Law Olmstead, is one of the most outstanding urban parks in the United States.

Olmstead designed the original Prospect Park Plaza as an ornate entrance to the park. It opened in 1867 and two years later a statue of Lincoln was placed in the Park. In 1885, Brooklyn's mayor, Seth Low of First Unitartian Church fame, began the process to erect the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch. After the arch was completed in 1892, famed architect Stanford White redesigned the plaza. The Lincoln statue was moved elsewhere in Prospect Park.

Here is a view from the park of the 80 foot high arch. Its architect was John Duncan, who also designed Grant's Tomb. The cars give a sense of the scale.
gap overview.JPG
 
The ornate arch is topped by allegorical statues. The central one is Lady Columbia, representing the United States flanked by what are interpreted as Winged Victories. On either side of the arch are depictions of soldiers and sailors. The Spirit of the Army is on the left and The Spirit of the Navy is on the right.

gap arch1.JPG
 
Inside the arch are two reliefs. This one is of Lincoln. Interestingly Lincoln was sculpted by one artist and his horse was by another. Lincoln was sculpted by William O'Donovan and his horse is by the famous artist Thomas Eakins. I like that Lincoln's hat is hollow.

gap lincoln.JPG
 
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Nice photos, thanks for posting. Maybe an obvious question, but is that netting over the statues? Guessing to keep birds from nesting?
Yup. As you can see, the statues are in beautiful shape after cleaning and the parks department does not want birds to spoil them.
 
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