page_title: Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument (Manhattan)
section_title: Design
hierarchical_section_title: Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument (Manhattan) / Design
caption_attribution_description: English: The Soldier's and Sailors' Monument in Riverside Park on Riverside Drive at West 89th Street in the Upper West Side honors the dead of the Civil War, and was designed by Stoughton &amp; Stoughton with Paul E. M. DuBoy. It was built from 1897-1902 and is an enlarged version of the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates in Athens. (Sources: AIA Guide to NYC (Fifth Edition) and Guide to NYC Landmarks (Fourth edition))
context_page_description: The Soldiers' and Sailors' Memorial Monument is a monument located at 89th Street and Riverside Drive in Riverside Park in the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York City. It commemorates Union Army soldiers and sailors who served in the American Civil War. It is an enlarged version of the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates in Athens, and was designed by the firm of Stoughton & Stoughton with Paul E. M. DuBoy. The monument was completed in 1902.
context_section_description: The monument was intended to stand at the center of a complex sequence of balustraded formal paved terraces and stairs that would have rationalized the steep natural slopes to north and west, but were eliminated in the execution. Its siting at a curve in Riverside Drive makes it visible from a distance, a desirable feature for a monument in the City Beautiful movement, of which this Beaux-Arts monument is a prime example. Originally, there was a planned stairway to the river and a battlemented wall to the south but these were never built.  It appears that the area south of the plaza was simply paved, or perhaps treated with pebbles. On the south side of the monument are two mounted cannons. On the west side of the memorial, the back steps to the terraces offer views of the Hudson River.
  The monument measures approximately 100 feet (30 m) tall and 50 feet (15 m) deep. The initial design called for the monument to be crowned with a statue of Peace "of heroic size" but this was not done.
  The sculptured bronze door at the base of the monument, now kept locked, was originally open to visitors. Currently, the interior is open one day annually at Open House New York. The interior is entirely revetted with the same veined white marble used on the exterior. The interior is in two stages, with six niches in the lower stage, corresponding to the exterior basement, and an upper stage of tall Corinthian pilasters flanking plain panels; above is a ribbed interior dome with a central lantern. The mosaic on the floor is a star centered on a bronze relief medallion of the US arms, with crossed oak and laurel sprays.
  The exterior colonnade carries an entablature adorned with a full frieze containing the inscriptions "To the memory of the Brave Soldiers and Sailors Who Saved the Union," A cresting of eagles alternating with cartouches surmounts the cornice. The monument terminates in a low conical roof crowned by a richly decorated marble finial.
  The Riverside Park Conservancy maintains the plantings in the area surrounding the monument.
caption: The central structure of the monument in 2016
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