A large but temporary wood and plaster arch was built over Fifth Avenue in 1889, three years after our ClockTower. It was constructed there to celebrate the centennial of George Washington’s inauguration as our first President,
April 30, 1789.
New Yorkers liked the temporary arch so much a permanent replacement in white marble was designed by celebrity architect-of-the-times, Stanford White. Inspired by the (1806) Arch de Triomphe in Paris, he sited his neoclassic arch just inside the Washington Square Park.
Two commemorative statues of Washington were added later,
in 1918.
“Happiness depends more on the internal frame of a person’s own mind, than on the externals in the world.”
George Washington, May 15, 1787
lol, no comment about the lighting? =D
ReplyDeleteHar har, hi Crank, I tried to make the arch look as good as I could and remove the burned out lightbulbs with selective cropping. You can still see a burnout in the ground in the last photo, second uplight from the left. ah well.
ReplyDelete