A design competition for the USS Maine Memorial was held in 1912. The results, however, were deemed unsatisfactory, and the Commission of Fine Arts subsequently commissioned prominent Washington architect Nathan C. Wyeth to design the memorial. The memorial, as designed by Wyeth and dedicated in 1913, is in the form of a circular, stylized turret, serving as the base for the mast. Constructed of concrete, it is sheathed on the interior by marble, and on the exterior by granite. 23 panels on the exterior list the names and occupations of the 264 sailors and marines who perished when the ship sank.
Roman tripods flank the entrance.
A fragment of the ship s bell is attached to the massive bronze door. The nautical theme is reinforced by the use of metal rope and emblematic anchors on the bronze entrance gate. Bronze grills fill the 11 slit windows. The interior ceiling is in the form of a shallow saucer dome, and the floor is of mosaic tile. The entire memorial is flanked by two granite balustrades across the circumferential road surrounding the structure.