Community Corner
UWS Lawmaker Fights To Save Crumbling Civil War Monument
The Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument has been fully closed since 2017 when structural damage was found in its retaining wall.
UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — None of the veterans, residents, or elected officials who gathered Memorial Day at the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument could place their hands on the marble ode to the Union Army.
The monument has been closed since 2017 — after inspectors found drainage issues that that threatened to collapse its retaining walls — but an Upper West lawmaker hopes she can rectify the situation.
"It’s one of the City’s most beautiful landmarks—and in desperate need of renovation," Council Member Gale Brewer wrote Tuesday. "Our veterans, our residents, and the City deserve better. Let us show respect for the soldiers and sailors it honors, and for all of us who enjoy Riverside Park."
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This comment appears on a petition published Tuesday calling on the city to "Save our Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument."
Brewer estimates the cost of repairing the Civil War monument at West 89th Street and Riverside Drive could be has high as $54 million.
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A spokesperson from the city told Patch that it remains "committed" to restoring the monument.
"We remain committed to restoring the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument so all New Yorkers can appreciate the historically significant landmark," the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson also mentioned the $500 million that the city recently pledged to Riverside Park repairs, including the $11.5 million for drainage issues — but did not specify the allotted amount of money going to the monument.
The monument was completed in 1902 and was made a New York City landmark in 1976. It was later made a New York state landmark in 2001.
The monument was originally set to be built at 59th Street and Fifth Avenue and then at 83rd Street and Riverside Drive before its final site was chosen.
President Theodore Roosevelt laid the first stone during a ceremony in 1900 for the beginning of construction.
Its last comprehensive restoration was done in 1962.
Brewer thinks it was about time for another upgrade, writing, "I urge the City to restore this landmark."
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