Indiana World War Memorial Plaza
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| Indiana World War Memorial Plaza | |
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| (U.S. Registered Historic District) | |
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| Location: | Indianapolis, Indiana |
| Coordinates: | Coordinates: |
| Built/Founded: | 1923 onwards |
| Architect: | Walker & Weeks; Henry Hering |
| Architectural style(s): | Art Deco, Beaux-Arts |
| Added to NRHP: | September 25, 1989 |
| NRHP Reference#: | 89001404 |
| Governing body: | State |
The Indiana World War Memorial Plaza is an urban feature located in Indianapolis, Indiana, originally built to honor the veterans of World War I. It was made a National Historic District on September 25, 1989.
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[edit] History
The origins of the Indiana World War Memorial Plaza lay in attempts by the city of Indianapolis in 1919 to lure the newly formed American Legion from its national headquarters in New York City. One of the promises the city made was to erect a fitting memorial to those who served in World War I. Thus, in January 1920 a public library, St. Clair Park, University Park, and two occupied city blocks were designated for the construction, with one new building for the American Legion to use as their national headquarters, various public buildings, and a war memorial. Work began in 1921, with the city to pay for the site and maintenance costs, and the state of Indiana to pay for the memorial.[2]
Various architects were invited by an appointed War Memorial Board to design a memorial not only intended to honor all who fought in World War I, also to provide meeting places, archives, and offices for the American Legion. The partnership of Walker and Weeks of Cleveland, Ohio was chosen in 1923. Their plan consisted of a main memorial and two auxiliary buildings, an obelisk, a mall, and a cenotaph. Bids for the American Legion building, one of the two auxiliary buildings, were put out in 1925 and construction began the same year. In style the structure complemented the nearby local library. The other auxiliary building was not constructed until 1950.[3]
[edit] The War Memorial
The work for the actual memorial to the veterans of World War I began in early 1926. Five of the seven buildings located on the site had to be demolished before the actual construction commenced; the other two, both churches, were not demolished until 1960. General John Pershing laid the cornerstone of the memorial on July 4, 1927, saying he was "consecrating the edifice as a patriotic shrine". Funding problems in 1928 slowed the building of the interior. Even a new contractor in 1931 and $195,000 provided by the Public Works Administration in 1936 did little to speed the process of completing the structure. In 1949 a local newspaper leaked the information that the memorial was already deteriorating, its limestone scaling, paint peeling, leaks forming, and plaster cracking. Such stories continued to be published until the memorial was finally finished in 1965.[4]
The cubical structure clad in unrelieved ashlar Indiana limestone on a high lightly rusticated base is topped with a low pyramidal roof that sheathes its interior dome. It stands on a raised terrace approached by a monumental stair. The cenotaph has four identical faces. On each an Ionic screen of six columns, behind which are tall banks of windows, is surmounted by symbolic standing figures designed by Henry Hering: Courage, Memory, Peace, Victory, Liberty and Patriotism. The sculptures are repeated on each façade. On the south side, standing on a pink granite base in the center of the grand access stairs, is Hering's colossal exultant male nude bronze, Pro Patria (1929).
The War Memorial was a late structure of the City Beautiful Movement. The memorial is based upon the Mausoleum of Maussollos, which was one of the Seven Wonders of the World. At 210 feet (64 m) tall it is approximately seventy-five feet taller than the original Mausoleum which was demolished to build a fort during the Crusades. The blue lights which shine between columns on the side of the War Memorial make the monument easy to spot. It is the most imposing Neoclassical structure in Indianapolis due to its scale and size.[5]
Inside the memorial the military museum is free of access. It honors the efforts of Hoosier soldiers, from the Battle of Tippecanoe to modern conflicts. Aside from firearms, it features a helicopter from the Korean War, a Navy Terrier missile, and the USS Indiana's commission plate. There are over 400 military flags housed in the museum, more than 300 of which are from the American Civil War.[6]
The main interior space is the Shrine Room, nearly a vertical double cube, 110 ft high and 60 ft on a side, clad in materials collected from all the allied nations of World War I. Dark red Vermont marble columns with gilded capitals of a Corinthian order shorn of its acanthus support a gilded entablature. At the center of the space, beneath a giant hanging American flag, is the Altar of Consecration, flanked at the corners with colossal sacrificial cauldrons on tripod stands.
[edit] American Legion buildings
The two auxiliary buildings have been used by the American Legion. One at Meridian and St. Clair currently houses the Indiana Department of the American Legion; it once held the national headquarters. The national headquarters is at Pennsylvania and St. Clair. It deals with the mail, archives, and other internal functions of the Legion; the lobbying efforts of the Legion are based in its Washington, D.C. office.[7]
[edit] Cenotaph Square
The Cenotaph Square is located between the two auxiliary buildings used by the American Legion. It is a sunken garden, with the black granite cenotaph centered in it resting upon a base of red and dark green granite. Four shafts of black granite, with eagles surmounted on them, mark the boundaries of the square.[8]
[edit] Other features
Among other features in the plaza are an obelisk and fountain, both in the center of the plaza. [9]
[edit] References
- ^ National Register Information System. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service (2007-01-23).
- ^ Bodenhamer, David. The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis (Indiana University Press, 1994) p.762
- ^ Bodenhamer 762
- ^ Bodenhamer 762, 763
- ^ Indiana War Memorial Museum; Bodenhamer 762, 763
- ^ Indiana War Memorial Museum
- ^ Bodenhamer 254
- ^ Bodenhamer 762
- ^ Bodenhamer 762, 763
[edit] External links
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