The Washington Square Arch

Washington Square Arch is a national and city landmark located in the Washington Square Park, a public park in New York.

The construction of the Arch was inspired by Roman triumphal arches and it was erected in 1889 to celebrate the centennial of George Washington's inauguration. The architect chosen to build the Arch was Stanford White, America’s premier architect. This, at first temporary construction, was made of wood and papier-mâché. However, it was so popular that a permanent one began to be built close to the original one. The construction took six years and cost $134,000. The material used was marble. The Arch is decorated with sculptures of Washington in both his civilian and military guises created by Alexander Stirling Calder and Herman MacNeil. The inscription on the Arch says: “Let us raise a Standard to which the Wise and the Honest can repair the Event is in the Hands of God? Washington”.

By 1915, Washington Square Park area was nationally-recognized as a center for artistic and moral rebellion, but nowadays it has again been one of the prominent places in New York. Up until the 1971, traffic flowed through the square underneath the Arch, so there were small pillars around the base of each leg as a protection.