8/12/2023 0 Comments Who made statue of unity![]() Seymour Dutton had a similar idea where a third of the monument would have been taken up by a large statue of the president.Īll the way from Boston, an architecture student named M. Paul Schulze, designer of the Smithsonian’s Arts and Industries Building, submitted plans to this effect. Many designs incorporated the unfinished base by simply capping it with a statue of Washington-the magnitude of which was up to the architect’s whims. The Washington Monument was going to be a permanent symbol of the nation, and perhaps predictably, no one could quite agree on what that essence was, leading to a spectacular array of architectural trends all reflecting their own version of America's self-image. In 1877, the Monument Society very quietly began accepting fresh proposals.ĭutton's design would have added a statue ofĪccidentally, this opened the floodgates to a contentious issue for late nineteenth-century America: the expression of a national style. The compromise was that the government would pay for reinforcing the foundation, and the Joint Committee would consider new ideas for construction upwards. Besides, its classically inspired architecture had fallen distastefully out of fashion with emotive Victorian sensibilities. ![]() The second issue was Mills’ original design: it would be far too expensive and time consuming. On one hand, engineers found serious problems with the foundation and ruled out building the monument to its full height. Now with money, the question became not when the monument would be finished, but how. Grudgingly, they acquiesced to a Joint Committee, where the Society would have no rights but continue to “solicit funds” and act in the capacity of an “adviser.” In protest, the Society made one last drive for donations but came up pitifully short of their goal. No doubt the Society was disappointed, and Washingtonians weren’t too pleased with the stalled project, either: on DC’s front lawn stood a 150-foot marble “grave of buried American patriotism.” įinally, Congress stepped in, giving the cash-strapped Monument Society an ultimatum: the government would appropriate funds, but the Society would rescind ownership of the monument and the Army Corps of Engineers would take over construction. Mark Twain called it a “a factory chimney with the top broken off.” īy the 1870s, the Washington Monument was little more than a deteriorating stump. During the Civil War, its surrounding grounds were used to corral and slaughter cattle, leading it to be better known as the Beef Depot Monument than for its namesake. Throughout the 1860s the National Mall’s profile was defined by a stubby tower with scaffolding still poking out of the top.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |