Thursday, July 14, 2011

Public Art in Riverside Park

DID YOU KNOW: The monument dedicated to Joan of Arc in Riverside Park (at West 91st Street) was the first public sculpture in New York City dedicated to a non-fictional woman.

DID YOU KNOW: The position of repose in which the woman rests at the Ida Straus memorial, in Straus Park, is almost physically impossible to mimic.  At the very least, it sure isn't comfortable!


Michele Bogart welcomes the group at the Soldiers & Sailors Monument.

Yesterday evening, friends of LANDMARK WEST! gathered in Riverside Park to tour a selection of monuments and memorials.  Led by Jean Parker Phifer and Michele Bogart, the group of curious urban explorers discovered the lesser-known details of five works of public art:


Soldiers & Sailors Monument.

Soldiers & Sailors Monument
, Riverside Park at West 89th Street
Sculptor: Paul E. Duboy
Architect: Charles & Arthur Stoughton

The tour explores the Soldiers and Sailors Monument.

Michele Bogart discusses the Joan of Arc Memorial.

Joan of Arc Memorial*, Riverside Park at West 91st Street
Sculptor: Anna Vaughn Hyatt Huntington
Architect: John V. Van Pelt

From the Joan of Arc Memorial.


Jean Parker Phifer discusses the Joan of Arc sculpture.


The tour takes in the Firemen's Memorial
on approach westward from within Riverside Park

Firemens' Memorial
, Riverside Park at West 100th Street
Architect: Harold Van Buren Magonigle

Firemens' Memorial.


Bas relief at the Firemens' Memorial.


Sculptural grotesque from the Firemens' Memorial.
General Franz Sigel, Riverside Drive at West 106th Street
Sculptor: Karl Bitter
Architect: William Welles Bosworth

Straus Park, between Broadway and West End Avenue at West 106th Street

*For additional information on the Joan of Arc Memorial, check out this DNA Info article featuring West Sider Valerie Thaler.

3 comments:

Cristiana Pena [cristianapena@landmarkwest.org] said...

These are really great pictures of the memorials we visited on our walking tour of the West Side's West End Avenue. Thanks for the memories. The rain added a little drama to what really started out to be a bright sunny day.

LANDMARK WEST said...

Walking tour friends: Thanks for the comment above, but it incorrectly credited LW's Cristiana. Who are you, mysterious blog commenter? Let us know!

Ronald M. Gold said...

Yesterday's magical demystifying tour of Riverside Drive Monuments was truly a valuable and worthwhile study of 1900 to 1915 living architecture and sculpture we can enjoy daily in our unique neighborhood. Bravo Christiana and the entire LW team for putting this and other tours together so that our beloved Upper West Side can come alive over and over again. Ronald M. Gold, NY State Certified General Real Estate Appraiser, Proud resident of 190 Riverside Drive for over 20 years.