from the program of The Dewey Reception in New York City, 1899 (copyright expired)
Commodore George Dewey's fleet was anchored near Hong Kong on April 24, 1898 when he received a cable from Washington:
War has commenced between the United States and Spain. Proceed at once to Philippine Islands. Commence operations at once, particularly against the Spanish fleet. You must capture or destroy. Use utmost endeavors.
Six days later Dewey destroyed the Spanish Pacific Squadron in the Battle of Manila Bay. The Program of the Dewey Reception in New York would call it, "The most wonderful sea fight recorded in either ancient or modern history."
Soon, a committee was selected to stage of massive, three-day reception for the war hero including a spectacular parade. And on September 1, 1899, The British Architect reported, "By way of honouring the now great Admiral Dewey it is proposed to erect a grand triumphal arch in New York, at the axis of Fifth Avenue and Twenty-fourth Street, Madison Square. Charles Lamb is the architect."
In fact, Charles R. Lamb had conceived of a Roman-style triumphant arch for the Dewey event. The idea was approved in July 1899 and an advisory committee of Bruce Price, Charles C. Haight, George B. Post selected the site for the arch as the confluence of Fifth Avenue and Broadway at 24th Street. The arch would be approached from either end by a row of heroic columns that began at 25th Street and ended at 23rd Street.
As planned, the Arch (depicted as its four piers) sat at the confluence of Fifth Avenue, Broadway and 24th Street. Six massive columns each comprised the approach from 25th Street and to 23rd Street. Architects' and Builders' Magazine, October 1899 (copyright expired)
Based generally on the Arch of Titus and Vespasian in Rome, the Dewey Arch differed, "by following the Arc de Triomphe of Paris in piercing east and west the piers, thereby lending lightness to the towering structure," explained the Program of The Dewey Reception in New York City. A who's-who of 28 sculptors from the National Sculpture Society contributed time and labor. The most conspicuous of the works would be the quadriga, Victory on the Sea, that would sit atop the arch, sculpted by John Quincy Adams Ward.
John Q. A. Ward at work on the clay model of Victory on the Sea. from the program of The Dewey Reception in New York City, 1899 (copyright expired)
Other artists to contribute were Philip Martiny, who created The Call to Arms, and Karl Bitter, who sculpted The Combat; Charles H. Niehaus, who created The Triumphal Return; and Daniel C. French, responsible for Peace. These four colossal groupings appeared on the north and south sides of the arch.
Charles R. Lamb's concept of the design. Architects' and Builders' Magazine, October 1899 (copyright expired)
Bas relief sculptures were contributed by William Couper, Jahannes S. Gelert; and groupings of The Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and The North and East Rivers were completed by E. Hinton Perry and Isidore Konti, respectively. The cooperation of so many esteemed artists was staggering. The other artists working on the project were Henry Bairer, Carl F. Hammann, Ralph Goddard, Frederick R. Kaldenberg, Frederick Moynihan, Caspar Buberi, E. C. Potter, H. K. Bush-Brown, George T. Brewster, Thomas S. Clarke, J. J. Boyle, Jonathan S. Hartley, Augustus Lukeman and William Ordway Partridge.
The arch and colonnade was intended to be temporary--erected solely for the reception and parade. The British Architect exclaimed that they "will be torn down after the October celebration!" They would be constructed of wood and staff (the plaster-like material used in constructing certain buildings at the Chicago Columbian Exposition), and the cost was projected at $35,000, or just over $1 million in 2025 terms. Nevertheless, it was designed to awe, and to imitate the world's most important marble monuments.
Soon after the army of artisans started on the project, a "curse" seemed to strike. While working on his sketch at his home on 140th Street, sculptor Casper Buberi suffered a fatal heart attack on August 25. Two days later, sculptor Giovanni Turini suffered the same fate. On September 5, Frank Crane was discovered dead in his bed, and at 10:00 on the night of September 8, sculptor Henry Bairer, who was working on the Captain Lawrence medallion for the arch, "dropped to the floor, speechless," reported the Democrat Chronicle. The newspaper said, "A phantom of Fate seems to hover over the artists at work on the Dewey arch and decorations."
Nevertheless, on September 12, 1899, the New-York Tribune reported, "Work on the arch is going forward rapidly. The wooden framework will probably be completed by to-night, and then the sculptors and their men will take charge." The single statues were nearly finished, said the article, and "the big groups have already taken definite shape."
Carpenters at work on the framework. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, September 10, 1899 (copyright expired)
The basement of Madison Square Garden had been transformed "into studios of artists and great groups and single figures of statuary greet the eyes at every turn," said the article. "The recesses each hold their piece of sculpture and the whole place seems peopled with a race of great silent giants."
Two days before the parade, the scaffolding began coming down and Charles L. Lamb took a reporter from the New-York Tribune on a tour, including a climb up narrow, wooden stairs to the top, 86 feet above the avenue. "Is it true that Admiral Dewey is going to be invited up to the top of the arch?" the reporter asked.
from the collection of the Library of Congress
"Well, I hope so," Lamb answered, "We're going to invite him. We've had his relatives up there one by one, and I think we ought to have him."
The arch and colonnade were completed in time for the parade on September 30, 1899. Despite the abbreviated time frame in which to create the project, the result was dazzling--appearing as if meant to last for ages.
Looking southeast, across Madison Square, this vantage shows the rear of the arch. from the program of The Dewey Reception in New York City, 1899 (copyright expired)
A month after the parade, letters began pouring into the local newspapers espousing the replacement of the temporary arch with a permanent stone replica. Typical of the many letters published in the New-York Tribune on October 7, 1899 was that of Abraham Abraham, co-founder of the department store Abraham & Straus.
I believe the Dewey Arch should be made permanent. It will be an object lesson to future generations that our Republic is not ungrateful. If I can serve you in any way I will be glad to do so.
So vociferous was the public outcry, that on September 29, 1899, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle announced, "On the 18th of October, the park board will grant a public hearing in regard to the matter." The newspaper opined, "It would seem that the erection of this arch on park grounds at public expense would be a legitimate project," adding, "With the Dewey arch added to the Washington arch our progress as a nation will be well illustrated in the metropolis."
Below Ward's Victory on the Sea, colossal-sized naval figures surround the upper monument. In the background, Stanford White's Madison Square Garden can be seen. from the program of The Dewey Reception in New York City, 1899 (copyright expired)
On October 6, the New-York Tribune reported that the estimates for erecting a permanent monument ranged as high as $2.5 million, saying, "It was likely, however, that the cost would not exceed $500,000." (That lower figure was, nevertheless, costly. It would translate to nearly $16 million today.)
But public opinion of Admiral Dewey began to sour within two months. On October 26, Dewey wrote to the Dewey Home Fund committee in Washington D.C. saying, "I acknowledge the receipt this day of the title deeds to the beautiful home presented to me by my countrymen." More than $600,000 had been raised across the country to purchase a house for the widowed hero. Then, in November, he married his second wife, Mildred McLean Hazen and transferred title to the house to her.
On November 23, 1899, the New York Journal and Advertiser said, "Some people have presumed to talk of 'bad taste' in connection with the Admiral's disposition of his house." A reader of the New-York Tribune wrote a letter to the editor that said in part, "It was to Dewey as Admiral, we presume, that a house was given, and not to Dewey as a husband, however pleasing that role may be to him personally." Others stressed that if the permanent arch went forward, it should be called "the Naval Arch."
This view is seen southward from 25th Street. from the collection of the Library of Congress
The talks fizzled. Nearly a year later, on August 31, 1900, the Portland Daily Press reported, "The unsightly condition of the Dewey arch and the adjoining encumbrances in Madison square has at last become a matter of public complaint." Saying that it was "astonishing" that the residents of the neighborhood had tolerated its presence so long, the article continued,
In their present soiled and dilapidated state, they are an offence to good taste. Composed of material that yields quickly to wind, rain and frost, and that catches and retains all the dust and defilement blown or thrown upon them, they have become a veritable eyesore and disgrace to the city.
Before the end of the year, the once-magnificent structures were gone. On December 29, 1900, The New York Times remarked on the last remaining piece--the bas relief created by Danish artist Johannes Gelert.
Johannes Gelert's Progress of Civilization was the last piece of the work to survive. Architects' and Builders' Magazine, October, 1899 (copyright expired)
"One morning the work lay on the ground in a hundred pieces," said the article.
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