The Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch in Bushnell Park, Hartford, Connecticut, honors the 4,000 Hartford citizens who served in the American Civil War, including 400 who died for the Union cause. It is notable as the first permanent memorial arch to be built in America.
The arch's conception dates from October 21, 1879, when a committee formed to sponsor a competition (held in 1881). The committee declined to approve any of the winning schemes and in 1884 awarded the commission to the Hartford based architect George Keller. He produced an eclectic design with two Norman towers flanking a Gothic arch, decorated with a classical frieze, embellished with statues modeled by the Swiss-born sculptor Albert Entress (1846-1926). The arch, built with brownstone from Portland, Connecticut, was completed in 1886 at a cost of about $60,000, and dedicated on September 17, 1886.
The north frieze, by Samuel James Kitson, tells a story of war with (on the right) a figure of General Ulysses S. Grant surveying his troops and (on the left) marines leaping from a boat to rush Confederate troops. The south frieze, by Caspar Buberl, tells a story of peace. The central female allegorical figure represents the City of Hartford, surrounded by her citizens welcoming their soldiers home. The Boston Terra Cotta Company fabricated the frieze.
The four military services are symbolized in the spandrels: an anchor for the Navy; a crossed cannon for the Artillery; crossed sabers for the Cavalry; and crossed rifles for the Infantry. Six sculptural figures, each eight feet tall, adorn the towers: farmer, blacksmith, mason, student, carpenter and an African-American breaking his chains of bondage. Angels in the form of finials cap the towers, one a trumpeter, the other a cymbalist, both facing south to welcome the returning troops. [1] During the restoration of 1986–1988, the original terra cotta angels were removed and replaced with copies in bronze.
The ashes of architect Keller and his wife Mary are interred in the memorial.
A tablet on the southeast tower is inscribed:
IN HONOR
OF THE MEN OF HARTFORD
WHO SERVED
AND IN MEMORY OF THOSE WHO FELL
ON LAND AND ON SEA
IN THE WAR FOR THE UNION
THEIR GRATEFUL TOWNSMEN
HAVE RAISED THIS MEMORIAL
The southwest tablet is inscribed:
DURING THE CIVIL WAR
1861–1865
MORE THAN 4,000 MEN OF HARTFORD
BORE ARMS IN THE NATIONAL CAUSE
NEARLY 400 OF WHOM
DIED IN THE SERVICE
ERECTED 1885
GEORGE KELLER, ARCHITECT
CASPER BUBERL & SAMUEL KITSON SCULPTORS
BOSTON
TERRA COTTA CO
Lee Oscar Lawrie was an American architectural sculptor and a key figure in the American art scene preceding World War II. Over his long career of more than 300 commissions Lawrie's style evolved through Modern Gothic, to Beaux-Arts, Classicism, and, finally, into Moderne or Art Deco.
Karl Theodore Francis Bitter was an Austrian-born American sculptor best known for his architectural sculpture, memorials and residential work.
Bushnell Park in Hartford, Connecticut is the oldest publicly funded park in the United States. It was conceived by the Reverend Horace Bushnell in the mid-1850s at a time when the need for open public spaces was just starting to be recognized. Today the park comprises 50 acres (20 ha) of green space, and is visited by over one million people each year. Paths through the park contribute to the East Coast Greenway.
Caspar Buberl was an American sculptor. He is best known for his Civil War monuments, for the terra cotta relief panels on the Garfield Memorial in Cleveland, Ohio, and for the 1,200-foot (370 m)-long frieze on the Pension Building in Washington, D.C.
The Arc de Triomf is a memorial arch in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was built by architect Josep Vilaseca i Casanovas as the main access gate for the 1888 Barcelona World Fair. The arch crosses over the wide central promenade of the Passeig de Lluís Companys, leading to the Ciutadella Park that now occupies the site of the world fair. It is located at the northern end of the promenade, facing the Passeig de Sant Joan.
The Cuyahoga County Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument is a major Civil War monument in Cleveland, Ohio, honoring the more than 9,000 individuals from Cuyahoga County who served the Union throughout the war. It was dedicated on July 4, 1894, and is located on the southeast quadrant of Public Square in Downtown Cleveland. It was designed by architect and Civil War veteran Levi Scofield, who also created the monument's sculptures. The monument is regularly open to the public, free of charge.
Allen George Newman III was an American sculptor, best known for his statue "The Hiker".
George Keller was an American architect and engineer. He enjoyed a diverse and successful career, and was sought for his designs of bridges, houses, monuments, and various commercial and public buildings. Keller's most famous projects, however, are the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch in Hartford, Connecticut, and the James A. Garfield Memorial in Cleveland, Ohio.
Samuel James Kitson was a British-American sculptor active in the United States from about 1876 to 1906. He maintained studios in New York City and Boston.
Levi Tucker Scofield was a prominent architect and sculptor from Cleveland, Ohio. He served as a Captain in the 103rd OVI in the American Civil War and designed many public buildings and several monuments during his career. He was a third generation Cleveland resident and the Schofield Building, which he designed, is named after him.
Memorial gates and arches are architectural monuments in the form of gates and arches or other entrances, constructed as a memorial, often dedicated to a particular war though some are dedicated to individuals. The function, and very often the architectural form, is similar to that of a Roman triumphal arch, with the emphasis on remembrance and commemoration of war casualties, on marking a civil event, or on providing a monumental entrance to a city, as opposed to celebrating a military success or general, though some memorial arches perform both functions. They can vary in size, but are commonly monumental stone structures combining features of both an archway and a gate, often forming an entrance or straddling a roadway, but sometimes constructed in isolation as a standalone structure, or on a smaller scale as a local memorial to war dead. Although they can share architectural features with triumphal arches, memorial arches and gates constructed from the 20th century onwards often have the names of the dead inscribed on them as an act of commemoration.
Francis Asbury, also known as the Francis Asbury Memorial, is a public equestrian statue, by American artist Augustus Lukeman, located at 16th Street and Mt. Pleasant Street, Northwest, Washington, D.C., in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood.
The Blackford County Courthouse is a historic building located in Hartford City, Indiana, the county seat of Blackford County. The building stands on a public square in the city's downtown commercial district. Built during the Indiana Gas Boom, most of the construction work was completed in 1894. The current courthouse was preceded by another courthouse building on the same site, which was declared inadequate by a judge in 1893, and was torn down. Following the condemnation of the original courthouse, the county's judicial activities were temporarily located in a building across the street.
Carl H. Conrads was an American sculptor best known for his work on Civil War monuments and his two works in the National Statuary Hall Collection at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. He was also known as Charles Conrads.
The National War Correspondents Memorial, part of Gathland State Park, is a memorial dedicated to journalists who died in war. It is located at Crampton's Gap at South Mountain, near Burkittsville, Maryland, in the United States.
The Norfolk Library, also known as Eldridge Memorial Library, is a library at 9 Greenwoods Road East in Norfolk, Connecticut. The Norfolk Library is a private charitable organization, but the facility is open to the general public. Designed by architect George Keller in 1888, and greatly expanded by Keller in 1911, it is an outstanding example of Shingle Style architecture. The building is a contributing property in the Norfolk Historic District.
Soldiers and Sailors Monument is a war monument in Monument Square, at Broadway and 2nd Street in Troy, New York, United States. It honors those from Rensselaer County who served in the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812 and the American Civil War.
André Abbal (1876–1953) was a French sculptor. He was commissioned to work on several war memorials and this article gives details of his most important work. Best known as a pioneer of "Direct carving" who became known as "L'Apôtre de la Taille Directe".
The Hartford Times Building is an historic Beaux-Arts building in downtown Hartford, Connecticut built as the headquarters of the now defunct Hartford Times. The newspaper commissioned architect Donn Barber, who had designed the nearby Travelers Tower and Connecticut State Library and Supreme Court Building, to build it a new structure to house its office and newspaper plant. At the time the paper was at the height of its influence with the top circulation in the state in 1917.
41°45′56″N72°40′48″W / 41.76566°N 72.68000°W
