The Unbuilt Monuments of New York City

[Music] the Statue of Liberty is one of the most famous monuments in the world dedicated in 1886 it has become an icon not just of New York City but of the entire country and a symbol of welcomed immigrants arriving by sea but building a structure of this scale is not easy and securing enough money for the projects proved a serious problem by 1885 work on the pedestal was threatened by lack of funds and sufficient donations to complete it were only raised after publisher Joseph Pulitzer initiated a campaign in his newspaper appealing to the American people to contribute whatever they could thanks to his efforts more than 120 000 individual donations were raised allowing work to continue but over the course of New York's history there have been several other planned monuments that could have similarly redefined the image of the city that weren't as fortunate in this video we will explore some of New York's most impressive monuments that were never built [Music] [Music] already in 1802 New Yorkers had called for the construction of a memorial to George Washington and 30 years later an association was formed to realize this ambition it managed to collect a considerable sum of donations but years went by without much else happening then in 1843 it was reformed under designed by architect Calvin Pollard was adopted according to this scheme the monument was to be a massive 425 feet or 130 meters tall Gothic Tower almost double the height of any other building in the city said to be constructed on Union Square it promised to be the noblest monument in the known world inside there will be several rotundas with exhibitions or sculptures and paintings commemorating the Revolution and Washington in particular while subsidiary galleries illuminated through stained glass windows would serve the more utilitarian purposes of a free library Studios for artists and an astronomical Observatory the build cost was estimated at around four hundred thousand dollars the project soon faced public protests particularly from other architects who were against the seemingly arbitrary manner in which the association had selected Pollard's design and demanded an open competition it was also attacked on aesthetic grounds one art Journal was impressed by its scale but complained that quote more wretched stuff for Gothic was never perpetrated Pollard's choice of Gothic was further criticized as Preposterous for Americans it was observed that quote a Gothic monument in honor of Washington is the very Sublime of nonsense and we are a little in doubt whether a monument of the gothic order is in perfectly Congress association with a character and history of Washington eventually independent counter proposals began to be circulated among them was a classical project by Robert Kerr intended to serve as caught any planes of public Resorts a lounge or Promenade it consisted of three superimposed circular Colonnades of varying Heights on a stepped base the different levels contained Galleries and Terraces for busts and paintings of Washington and other national heroes also included was a modest Historical Library another similarly ambitious design was submitted by the American sculptor Thomas G Crawford and the English architect Frederick catherwood this Monument would have consisted of a colossal cast iron statue of Washington 75 feet or 22 meters tall atop a granite pedestal itself 55 feet or 17 meters in height following the barrage of criticism the project lost momentum and it seemed like it would be abandoned for good but in 1847 it was revived again and an open design competition was held this time the common Council granted the association ground for the monument in Hamilton Square and now lost Public Square on the Upper East Side a visitor to the association's office wrote of the submissions that quote all are on a scale of Impractical Splendor and magnitude and with two exceptions all execrable one by the fever a combination of Obelisk Church steeple and the gas house chimney antenna to look Egyptian and 500 feet high is horribly ugly but as a sort of knowing original Preposterous nightmare look that's rather taking dissatisfied with the results of its competition the trustees of the association decided not to adopt any of the projects instead they went back to Pollard's original design and on the 19th of October 1847 A procession to Hamilton Square celebrated the laying of the Cornerstone on the anniversary of the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown inevitably objections to Polaris the sun reappeared in the Press we cannot find terms to speak in sufficient contempt wrote Walt Whitman in an editorial in the Brooklyn daily eagle by December the association began to accept the signs again one of the more complex schemes in this round was submitted by William Ross Wallace guarded by statues symbolizing the continents the monument featured a large pedestal covered with the reliefs of Washington as the man the revolutionary leader the president of the United States and the farmer of Mount Vernon on top of the pedestal stands a monopteral structure of 13 columns interspersed with statues of designers of the Declaration of Independence above Rose a large globe emblematic of the world which quote must finally be Redeemed by The Genius of Washington asserting the principles of the American Revolution at the summit of the whole structure soared a colossal statue of the first president by the end of 1848 the question of the design could finally be settled for good by then enough votes had been cast by the citizens of New York for the association to announce that the subscribers to the Washington Monument had selected the fever's plan for an Egyptian obelisk earlier that year however work had begun on another Washington Monument in the capital which also took the form of an ancient Egyptian obelisk and was also projected to be 500 feet or 150 meters tall this would cause public interest in the project to Wayne according to the fever although his design was said to be erected in Granite on Murray Hill it was never executed for Knack of sufficient funds it will not be until 1856 that New York's first public monument to Washington a bronze equestrian statue in Union Square was unveiled a triumphal Arch was also put up in its honor in 1895. standing in Washington Square it was designed by architect Stanford White and commemorates the Centennial of his 1789 inauguration as president of the United States [Music] in 1929 another project appeared that could have added a Monumental Obelisk to New York skyline at 800 feet there are about 240 meters tall this proposal for a World War One Memorial in Battery Park would have been considerably taller than the Washington Monument designed by Eric googler it featured a visitor's gallery and a beacon roughly 600 feet above sea level the Obelisk could have been visible not only from the harbor but along Broadway through all of lower Manhattan and Beyond the idea was eventually killed off by Robert Moses since it conflicted with his planned Brooklyn Battery Bridge another project that never came to friction [Music] this was just one of many proposed memorials to the war in September of 1918 two months before it ended at a Sign by Don Barber appeared in the periodical the American architect silent next to Grant's Tomb along Riverside Drive it consisted of a Watergate where foreign guests could be greeted leading up to a stadium and Plaza and then to a number of War monuments on the upper part of the composition [Music] the idea of Watergate would reappear in several other designs published in the following months this includes one by Otto Eggers and e h rosengarden which would have been located about 10 blocks down Eggers motivated his design by writing that the idea of building a memorial in Central Park which was also discussed at the time would be analogous torturing guests through the back door into the reception room whereas in the Riverside to sign the guests are immediately welcomed at the front door by the president mayor and other dignitaries a third iteration of this idea was proposed by the brothers Franklin and Arthur Ware and their partner MD Metcalf they chose the more logical side of Battery Park at the southern tip of Manhattan a natural deportation point for a ship entering New York Harbor within sight of the Statue of Liberty [Music] from here a massive gate would open up to Broadway leading you out of the battery to City Hall and providing the perfect triumphal way in for visiting dignitaries meanwhile Mayor John Hyland had set up a committee on a permanent war memorial which began advertising for proposals by November 1919 it found a report concluding that none of the forwarded schemes were founded to their satisfaction but they did recommend three General initiatives that they believed would form the basis of future planning these were a Liberty Bridge erected over the Hudson River a Liberty Hall the development of Madison Square Garden to become the largest Convention Center in the world and a liberty Arch erected near Central Park or Madison Square Park a composite image of this scheme seen here was made by the architect w a Somerville the bridge was never really popular it wasn't regarded as a fitting enough tribute to New York's sacrifice and besides it would mostly be of benefit to the residents of New Jersey the notion of a Liberty Hall on the other hand did attract a lot of public support however the victory Hall Association who had proposed the plans were the Drew from the committee's competition to develop the scheme on their own they envisioned a grand building inspired by the Parthenon in Athens that would consist of a 20 000 seat Auditorium meeting rooms swimming pool and rifle range as well as large bronze plaques that would record the names of the Dead however its prominent location on a city-owned plot next to Grand Central Station brought censure from politicians who argued that the scheme was a cynical means of depriving in the city of income and would only benefit the rich hoteliers and Club owners in the area to counter such claims the association set out an ambitious plan to secure for its sight the body of the Unknown Soldier the failure to do this as well as to secure funding or combat the perceived limitations of the plan saw the scheme falter and fail by the mid-1920s [Music] the only remaining viable option was the Liberty Arch but it consistently failed to get sufficient political and popular support in April 1922 the permanent war memorial committee decided to rework a previous scheme to make the lower Reservoir in Central Park the city's war memorial but this project was also called the halt two years later since no agreement could be made as to its form or function New York never built a central Memorial to World War One that being said the dedication of spaces from squares to streets and parks was used as a way to commemorate it in addition many smaller monuments were actually built ranging from so-called Doughboy statues depicting soldiers to the Bronx Victory column in Pelham Bay Park in the early 20th century Fort Wadsworth in Staten Island was set to become the site for the National American Indian Memorial it would have featured a giant statue of a Native American Chief extending his hand to the sea in a sign of peace designed by Daniel Chester French who is also known for his work on the Lincoln Memorial the statue would have stood atop a neo-astec pyramid with an Egyptian Revival style complex serving as its foundation all designed by Thomas Hastings a partner at the firm Carrara and Hastings the scheme included a museum an art gallery a library and the garden grounds and would cover every aspect of Native American life from regalia and artwork to architecture pricing 165 feet or about 50 meters the Native American Chief would have been taller than the Statue of Liberty and with its location near the entrance to New York Harbor the memorial would have been the first sight to greet immigrants arriving in the city the memorial was the brainchild of Rodman Wanamaker a department store magnate and Patron of the Arts who beginning in 1908 had sponsored a series of expeditions to document Native American tribes and generate public interest and support for American Indians right to citizenship on May 12 1909 shortly after the second Expedition ended a dinner was held at the New York City restaurant Charis to honor Buffalo Bill Cody whose performance was being held in the New York hippodrome that night Cody proposed a giant Native American statue which Wanamaker had suggested to him that would be set along the New York Harbor and would serve to welcome everyone to this Shore many of the guests at the dinner party enthusiastically supported the idea and it was also met with the general support from the public the project evolved over time in 1910 one version foresaw a peace Memorial or great bronze column of Staten Island that would sit above Pavilion Hill in Saint George and Tompkinsville and function as a western hemisphere counterpart to the hague's peace Palace by 1912 however the site was set to the Old Fort Tomkins within Fort Wadsworth and the scheme by Thomas Hastings and Daniel Chester French was produced the following year a groundbreaking ceremony was held attended by President Taft and the 30 indigenous leaders despite this the memorial was never realized Wannamaker was unable to raise sufficient funds and eventually lost interest the project was further overshadowed by the entry of the United States into World War One after the war's conclusion Wannamaker moved on to char the committee on a permanent war memorial instant and became heavily involved in that project the motivations behind the National American Indian Memorial were varied many Americans viewed it as a celebration of victory over Native Americans While others considered it quote a constant reminder of the vanishing Race To whom we are indebted for the great free gift of a continent and some thought the monument would memorialize admirable qualities attributed to Natives and serve as a lasting Beacon of American ideals Arizona John Burke who managed Cody announced that America owed at least an apology for the exigencies of civilized man and his cupidity in appropriating the Red Man's Land though he later clarified that of course it was all done in the name of progress and God had foreign this Monument as a lasting tribute to a dying race and to the genius of the man who suggested it [Music] the actor and activist chancing yellow robe by contrast condemned the project in 1914 stating we see a monument of The Indian in New York Harbor as a memorial to his Vanishing race the Indian wants no such Memorial monuments free is not yet dead the name of the Native American Indian will not be forgotten as long as the rivers flow and the hills and mountains shall stand and though we have progressed we have not vanished [Music]

Channel: Kings and Things

Views: 223,256

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Id: zKIty9Rl5pc

Length: 17min 1sec (1021 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 24 2023