Monument to the 369th Regiment

A simple but dignified 12-foot tall black granite monument to the all-African-American 369th Regiment stands in a pleasant garden plot opposite the troop’s historic drill hall.  Installed in 2006, it replicates a monument in France to the efforts of the troop during WWI and contains the troop’s rattlesnake insignia and crest.

Duke Ellington Circle

Originally Frawley Circle, Duke Ellington Circle was named after the celebrated composer and musician in 1995.  Two years later artist Robert Graham’s rather arresting memorial to Ellington was installed, showing Ellington and his piano aloft on a platform borne up by nine nude caryatids. The Circle marks the boundaries between Harlem and East Harlem and… Continue reading

The Arthur Brisbane Monument

Designed by Shreve, Lamb and Harmon, architects of 500 Fifth Avenue and the Empire State Building, the Arthur Brisbane Monument features a profile of the Hearst Organization editor by artist Richmond Barthe, a well-known sculptor of the period.  Dedicated in 1939, three years after Brisbane’s death, it is located (rather puzzlingly) a block down the… Continue reading

The William T. Stead Memorial, Central Park at 91st Street

The William T. Stead Memorial, dedicated to the British journalist William T. Stead, is a replica of the London original by British artist George James Frampton, which was set into a wall of the Embankment Promenade facing the Thames.  Stead, a well-known writer who founded the Review of Reviews in 1890, perished aboard the Titanic… Continue reading

The John Purroy Mitchel Memorial, 91st Street and Fifth Avenue

This unusual work honors the memory of John Purroy Mitchel, who, upon taking office in 1914 at the age of 34, was and remains New York City’s youngest elected mayor.  A noted reformer famed for his personal honesty, Mitchel joined the army after failing to win reelection and died in a training mishap: news of… Continue reading