A Project of the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art
History of Early American Landscape Design

Difference between revisions of "Bunker Hill Monument"

[http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/research/casva/research-projects.html A Project of the National Gallery of Art, Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts ]
Line 16: Line 16:
  
 
The Battle of Bunker Hill took place on June 17, 1775 on and around Breed’s Hill during the Siege of Boston. Nineteen years later, an 18-foot Tuscan pillar surmounted by a gilt [[Vase/Urn|urn]] was erected in memory of Dr. Joseph Warren (1741-1775), a hero of the battle, by the members of his Masonic Lodge. In 1823 a group of prominent Massachusetts citizens formed the Bunker Hill Monument Association for the purpose of creating a more ambitious memorial commensurate with the battle’s national importance.  
 
The Battle of Bunker Hill took place on June 17, 1775 on and around Breed’s Hill during the Siege of Boston. Nineteen years later, an 18-foot Tuscan pillar surmounted by a gilt [[Vase/Urn|urn]] was erected in memory of Dr. Joseph Warren (1741-1775), a hero of the battle, by the members of his Masonic Lodge. In 1823 a group of prominent Massachusetts citizens formed the Bunker Hill Monument Association for the purpose of creating a more ambitious memorial commensurate with the battle’s national importance.  
The Association envisioned “a simple, majestic, lofty, and permanent monument, which shall carry down to remote ages a testimony…to the heroic virtue and courage of those men who began and achieved the independence of their country.” <ref> George Washington Warren, ''The History of the Bunker Hill Monument Association'' (Boston, Mass.: James R. Osgood, 1877), 47, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/BN66XVRS view on Zotero]; see also Purcell, 195-99. </ref> In order to protect the battlefield from encroaching development as the local population grew, the Association’s standing committee purchased 15 acres on the [[terrace/slope|slope]] of Breed’s Hill and authorized [[Solomon Willard]], a stone worker and builder, to draw the plan for a 221-foot [[column]].   
+
The Association envisioned “a simple, majestic, lofty, and permanent monument, which shall carry down to remote ages a testimony…to the heroic virtue and courage of those men who began and achieved the independence of their country.” <ref> George Washington Warren, ''The History of the Bunker Hill Monument Association'' (Boston, Mass.: James R. Osgood, 1877), 47, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/BN66XVRS view on Zotero]; see also Sarah J. Purcell, ''Sealed with Blood: War, Sacrifice, and Memory in Revolutionary America'' (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010), 195-99, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/F6AX826F view on Zotero]. </ref> In order to protect the battlefield from encroaching development as the local population grew, the Association’s standing committee purchased 15 acres on the [[terrace/slope|slope]] of Breed’s Hill and authorized [[Solomon Willard]], a stone worker and builder, to draw the plan for a 221-foot [[column]].   
  
  
The committee subsequently changed course, opening a design competition in 1825 which attracted 50 entries. Although a [[column]] had been specified, a variety of alternative forms were submitted. [[Robert Mills]], an architect who had previously designed the [[Washington Monument (Baltimore)|Washington Monument]] in Baltimore, submitted plans for a [[column]] as well as an [[obelisk]], expressing his preference for the latter due to its “lofty character, great strength, and…fine surface for inscriptions.” <ref> Bryan, 2001, 204; Scott 1989, 133. </ref> Along with inscriptions, the monument was to be ornamented with numerous decorative devices &mdash; shields, stars, spears, and wreaths &mdash; which could be viewed from a series of platforms around the base and shaft of the [[obelisk]]. Horatio Greenough (1805-1852), a student at Harvard University who went on to become a noted sculptor, also submitted a design for an [[obelisk]]. In his memoirs, published in 1852, Greenough observed: “The [[obelisk]] has to my eye a singular aptitude, in its form and character, to call attention to a spot memorable in history. It says but one word, but it speaks loud. If I understand its voice, it says, Here! It says no more.” <ref> Henry T. Tuckerman, ''A Memorial of Horatio Greenough, Consisting of a Memoir, Selections from His Writings, and Tributes to His Genius'' (New York: G. P. Putnam & Co., 1853), 82, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/RKMSEMCJ view on Zotero].</ref>
+
The committee subsequently changed course, opening a design competition in 1825 which attracted 50 entries. Although a [[column]] had been specified, a variety of alternative forms were submitted. [[Robert Mills]], an architect who had previously designed the [[Washington Monument (Baltimore)|Washington Monument]] in Baltimore, submitted plans for a [[column]] as well as an [[obelisk]], expressing his preference for the latter due to its “lofty character, great strength, and…fine surface for inscriptions.” <ref> John M. Bryan, ''Robert Mills: America’s First Architect'' (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton Architectural Press, 2001), 204, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/P55UM5XC view on Zotero]; Pamela Scott, "Robert Mills and American Monuments," in ''Robert Mills, Architect'', ed. John M. Bryan (Washington, D.C.: American Institute of Architects Press, 1989), 133, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/E2TP47UJ view on Zotero]. </ref> Along with inscriptions, the monument was "to be ornamented with numerous decorative devices &mdash; shields, stars, spears, and wreaths &mdash; which could be viewed from a series of platforms around the base and shaft of the [[obelisk]]. Horatio Greenough (1805-1852), a student at Harvard University who went on to become a noted sculptor, also submitted a design for an [[obelisk]]. In his memoirs, published in 1852, Greenough observed: “The [[obelisk]] has to my eye a singular aptitude, in its form and character, to call attention to a spot memorable in history. It says but one word, but it speaks loud. If I understand its voice, it says, Here! It says no more.” <ref> Henry T. Tuckerman, ''A Memorial of Horatio Greenough, Consisting of a Memoir, Selections from His Writings, and Tributes to His Genius'' (New York: G. P. Putnam & Co., 1853), 82, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/RKMSEMCJ view on Zotero].</ref>
  
  
Following extensive debate over the architectural form best suited to communicate the heroic, memorial, and patriotic themes of the monument, the committee determined that the [[obelisk]] was “most congenial to republican institutions.” <ref> Purcell, 2010, 199-200; see also Wright, 1953, 167-71 </ref> [[Solomon Willard|Willard]] received the commission to construct the monument, which he originally designed with an Egyptian Revival base. Lack of funds required simplification of [[Solomon Willard|Willard's]] design and the selling of most of the land purchased by the Association. Only the summit of the hill was preserved for the monument grounds. <ref> Wheildon, 1865, 58-224; see also Willard, 1843 </ref> Landscape improvements carried out between 1842 and 1847 included grading, planting trees and [[hedge]]s, laying sidewalks, and installing iron [[fence]]s. <ref> Heitert, 2009, 38-39 </ref>
+
Following extensive debate over the architectural form best suited to communicate the heroic, memorial, and patriotic themes of the monument, the committee determined that the [[obelisk]] was “most congenial to republican institutions.” <ref> Purcell, 2010, 199-200; see also Nathalia Wright, "The Monument That Jonathan Built," ''American Quarterly Observer'', 5 (1953): 167-71, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/7UDSBFWK view on Zotero]. </ref> [[Solomon Willard|Willard]] received the commission to construct the monument, which he originally designed with an Egyptian Revival base. Lack of funds required simplification of [[Solomon Willard|Willard's]] design and the selling of most of the land purchased by the Association. Only the summit of the hill was preserved for the monument grounds. <ref> William W. Wheildon, ''Memoir of Solomon Willard, Architect and Superintendent of the Bunker Hill Monument'' (Boston, Mass.: The Monument Association, 1865), 58-224, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/6SSSK2ZT view on Zotero]; see also Solomon Willard, ''Plans and Sections of the Obelisk on Bunker’s Hill, with the Details of Experiments Made in Quarrying the Granite'' (Boston, Mass.: Charles Cook, 1843), [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/RES2EZNJ view on Zotero]. </ref> Landscape improvements carried out between 1842 and 1847 included grading, planting trees and [[hedge]]s, laying sidewalks, and installing iron [[fence]]s. <ref> Kristen Heitert, ''Archeological Overview and Assessment of Bunker Hill Monument, Charlestown, Massachusetts, Submitted to the Northeast Region Archeology Program National Park Service'', Public Archeology Laboratory (PAL), January 2009, 38-39, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/FM5GNFXD view on Zotero]. </ref>
  
  

Revision as of 21:06, March 10, 2015

The Bunker Hill Monument in Charleston, Massachusetts commemorates a pivotal early battle in the American war for independence. It is the first colossal obelisk erected in the United States. [1]


Overview

Alternate Names:

Site Dates: 1826-1842

Site Designer(s): Robert Mills; Horatio Greenough; Solomon Willard

Location:
View on Google Maps

History

The Battle of Bunker Hill took place on June 17, 1775 on and around Breed’s Hill during the Siege of Boston. Nineteen years later, an 18-foot Tuscan pillar surmounted by a gilt urn was erected in memory of Dr. Joseph Warren (1741-1775), a hero of the battle, by the members of his Masonic Lodge. In 1823 a group of prominent Massachusetts citizens formed the Bunker Hill Monument Association for the purpose of creating a more ambitious memorial commensurate with the battle’s national importance. The Association envisioned “a simple, majestic, lofty, and permanent monument, which shall carry down to remote ages a testimony…to the heroic virtue and courage of those men who began and achieved the independence of their country.” [2] In order to protect the battlefield from encroaching development as the local population grew, the Association’s standing committee purchased 15 acres on the slope of Breed’s Hill and authorized Solomon Willard, a stone worker and builder, to draw the plan for a 221-foot column.


The committee subsequently changed course, opening a design competition in 1825 which attracted 50 entries. Although a column had been specified, a variety of alternative forms were submitted. Robert Mills, an architect who had previously designed the Washington Monument in Baltimore, submitted plans for a column as well as an obelisk, expressing his preference for the latter due to its “lofty character, great strength, and…fine surface for inscriptions.” [3] Along with inscriptions, the monument was "to be ornamented with numerous decorative devices — shields, stars, spears, and wreaths — which could be viewed from a series of platforms around the base and shaft of the obelisk. Horatio Greenough (1805-1852), a student at Harvard University who went on to become a noted sculptor, also submitted a design for an obelisk. In his memoirs, published in 1852, Greenough observed: “The obelisk has to my eye a singular aptitude, in its form and character, to call attention to a spot memorable in history. It says but one word, but it speaks loud. If I understand its voice, it says, Here! It says no more.” [4]


Following extensive debate over the architectural form best suited to communicate the heroic, memorial, and patriotic themes of the monument, the committee determined that the obelisk was “most congenial to republican institutions.” [5] Willard received the commission to construct the monument, which he originally designed with an Egyptian Revival base. Lack of funds required simplification of Willard's design and the selling of most of the land purchased by the Association. Only the summit of the hill was preserved for the monument grounds. [6] Landscape improvements carried out between 1842 and 1847 included grading, planting trees and hedges, laying sidewalks, and installing iron fences. [7]


--Robyn Asleson

Images

Texts

  • Greenough, Horatio, c. 1851, "The Washington Monument," quoted in Tuckerman 1853: 82, [8]
82 "The obelisk has to my eye a singular aptitude, in its form and character, to call attention to a spot memorable in history. It says but one word, but it speaks loud. If I understand its voice, it says, Here! It says no more. For this reason it was that I designed an obelisk for Bunker Hill, and urged arguments that appeared to me unanswerable against a column standing alone.....
"The column used as a form of monument has two advantages. First, it is a beautiful object — confessedly so. Secondly, it requires no study or thought; the formula being ready made to our hands.
"I object, as regards the first of these advantages, that the beauty of a column, perfect as it is, is a relative beauty, and arises from its adaptation to the foundation on which it rests, and to the entablature which it is organized to sustain. The spread of the upper member of the capital calls for the entablature, cries aloud for it. The absence of that burden is expressive either of incompleteness, if the object be fresh and new, or of ruin if it bear the marks of age. The column is, therefore, essentially fractional — a capital defect in a monument, which should always be independent. I object to the second advantage as being one only to the ignorant and incapable. I hold the chief value of a monument to be this, that it affords opportunity for feeling, thought, and study, and that it not only occasions these in the architect, but also in the beholder."

References

Notes

  1. John Zukowsky, "Monumental American Obelisks: Centennial Vistas," The Art Bulletin, 58 (December 1976): 574, view on Zotero.
  2. George Washington Warren, The History of the Bunker Hill Monument Association (Boston, Mass.: James R. Osgood, 1877), 47, view on Zotero; see also Sarah J. Purcell, Sealed with Blood: War, Sacrifice, and Memory in Revolutionary America (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010), 195-99, view on Zotero.
  3. John M. Bryan, Robert Mills: America’s First Architect (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton Architectural Press, 2001), 204, view on Zotero; Pamela Scott, "Robert Mills and American Monuments," in Robert Mills, Architect, ed. John M. Bryan (Washington, D.C.: American Institute of Architects Press, 1989), 133, view on Zotero.
  4. Henry T. Tuckerman, A Memorial of Horatio Greenough, Consisting of a Memoir, Selections from His Writings, and Tributes to His Genius (New York: G. P. Putnam & Co., 1853), 82, view on Zotero.
  5. Purcell, 2010, 199-200; see also Nathalia Wright, "The Monument That Jonathan Built," American Quarterly Observer, 5 (1953): 167-71, view on Zotero.
  6. William W. Wheildon, Memoir of Solomon Willard, Architect and Superintendent of the Bunker Hill Monument (Boston, Mass.: The Monument Association, 1865), 58-224, view on Zotero; see also Solomon Willard, Plans and Sections of the Obelisk on Bunker’s Hill, with the Details of Experiments Made in Quarrying the Granite (Boston, Mass.: Charles Cook, 1843), view on Zotero.
  7. Kristen Heitert, Archeological Overview and Assessment of Bunker Hill Monument, Charlestown, Massachusetts, Submitted to the Northeast Region Archeology Program National Park Service, Public Archeology Laboratory (PAL), January 2009, 38-39, view on Zotero.
  8. Tuckerman, 1853, view on Zotero.



References

http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85018010.html

Bunker Hill website (National Park Service): http://www.nps.gov/bost/historyculture/bhm.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunker_Hill_Monument

Retrieved from "https://heald.nga.gov/mediawiki/index.php?title=Bunker_Hill_Monument&oldid=7268"

History of Early American Landscape Design contributors, "Bunker Hill Monument," History of Early American Landscape Design, , https://heald.nga.gov/mediawiki/index.php?title=Bunker_Hill_Monument&oldid=7268 (accessed March 29, 2024).

A Project of the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts

National Gallery of Art, Washington