Smith Memorial Arch

Smith Memorial Arch is an American Civil War monument at South Concourse and Lansdowne Drive in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Built on the former grounds of the 1876 Centennial Exposition, it serves as a gateway to West Fairmount Park. The Memorial consists of two colossal columns supported by curving, neo-Baroque arches, and adorned with 13 individual portrait sculptures (2 equestrians, 3 figures, and 8 busts); two eagles standing on globes; and architectural reliefs of 8 allegorical figures.

History

In 1891, Richard Smith (1821-1894), a wealthy Philadelphia electroplate and type founder, created a will that provided $500,000 ($ million today) for a memorial arch to be adorned with portraits of Pennsylvania's Civil War military and naval heroes. Smith deposited the model and designs for the memorial with the Fidelity Insurance Trust and Safe Deposit Company and stipulated that: Fidelity president John B. Gest handle his request, that the architectural designs and construction be handled by Philadelphia architect James H. Windrim, and that the selection and supervision of sculptors for the specified portraits should be handled by the Fairmount Park Art Association (now the Association for Public Art).

The will went into effect upon the death of Smith's wife in 1895, but it was not until 1897 that the Fairmount Park Art Association began to select the sculptors. The initial commissions were awarded on May 8, 1898, and it took until 1912 before the last sculpture was completed and installed on the arch.

The estate of Richard and Sarah Smith also funded the creation of Smith Memorial Playground & Playhouse, in East Fairmount Park.

Sculpture

Statues

*'' Major General George Gordon Meade'' by Daniel Chester French (atop south column).
*'' Major General John Fulton Reynolds'' by Charles Grafly (atop north column).
*Richard Smith (donor of the Memorial) by Herbert Adams (on pedestal of north column).

Equestrian statues

*''Major General George B. McClellan'' by Edward Clark Potter (atop south pier).
*'' Major General Winfield Scott Hancock'' by John Quincy Adams Ward (atop north pier).

Busts

* Major General John F. Hartranft by Alexander Stirling Calder.
* Major General Samuel W. Crawford by Bessie Potter Vonnoh.
* General James Addams Beaver by Katherine M. Cohen.
* Admiral David Dixon Porter by Charles Grafly.
* Admiral John A. B. Dahlgren by George Bissell.
* Governor Andrew Gregg Curtin by Moses Jacob Ezekiel.
*James H. Windrim (architect of the Memorial) by Samuel Murray.
*John B. Gest (executor of Richard Smith's estate) by Charles Grafly.

Other sculpture

*Two eagles standing on globes by John Massey Rhind.
*Eight bas-relief allegorical figures such as ''Courage'' and ''Heroism'', also by Rhind
*The Memorial's frieze is carved with the names of 84 Pennsylvania veterans.
*The Memorial's inscription reads:

THIS

MONUMENTAL MEMORIAL

PRESENTED BY

RICHARD SMITH

TYPE FOUNDER

OF PHILADELPHIA –

IN MEMORY OF

PENNSYLVANIANS WHO

TOOK PART IN THE CIVIL WAR

THEIR STRIFE WAS NOT FOR

AGGRANDIZEMENT AND WHEN

CONFLICT CEASED THE NORTH

WITH THE SOUTH UNITED AGAIN

TO ENJOY THE COMMON HERITAGE

LEFT BY THE FATHERS OF OUR

COUNTRY RESOLVING THAT

THEREAFTER ALL OUR PEOPLE

SHOULD DWELL TOGETHER

IN UNITY.Inscription
from Flickr.

References

Sources

*Fairmount Park Art Association, ''Sculpture of a City: Philadelphia's Treasures in Bronze and Stone'' (New York: Walker Publishing Company, 1974), pp. 168–179.
*Penny Balkin Bach, ''Public Art in Philadelphia'' (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1992), p. 208.

External links

Smith Memorial Arch, from Philadelphia Public ArtSmith Memorial Arch, from Historic American Buildings SurveySmith Memorial Arch, from Smithsonian Institution Research Information SystemSmith Memorial Arch, from Association for Public Art

{{Pennsylvania in the Civil War

Buildings and structures in Philadelphia
Equestrian statues in Philadelphia
West Fairmount Park
Monuments and memorials in Philadelphia
Triumphal arches in the United States
Union (American Civil War) monuments and memorials in Pennsylvania