Serenity Statue in Meridian Hill Park

In 1917, American businessman Charles Deering commissioned Catalan sculptor Josep Clara to sculpt a version of one of his “Serenidad” statues to go in Deering’s villa outside of Barcelona. After the villa’s floor plan changed, however, Deering decided to donate the statue and have it placed in Meridian Hill Park as a tribute to a late friend, Lieutenant Commander William H. Schuetze. Schuetze- who was a fellow classmate of Deering’s in the Naval Academy- died in 1902 of natural causes.

From the very beginning the statue seemed to have poor luck. In the inscription on its base, Schuetze’s name was misspelled as “Scheutze”- a mistake that is still evident today. The statue was also vehemently opposed by the public. Upon its placement in Meridian Hill Park in July of 1925, a petition was circulated by D.C. residents alleging that the statue’s thighs were too large and it therefore must be removed from the park. When the petition failed, complainants took to smashing her face with hammers during the night. The pockmarks left behind are still evident on Serenity’s face today. Within months, The Washington Post reported that the statue had also been covered with red paint and was in the process of being cleaned.

Serenity Statue’s location, secluded and hidden by some large bushes, has likely been one of the main factors for its being targeted by neighborhood vandals. Paint, graffiti, and chipping became so frequent that the Park Service eventually gave up on trying to make repairs. The statue's condition worsened to the point that in 1933, Columbia Heights Citizens Association called for its removal from the park on artistic grounds, calling it "offensive". Yet again, the attempt was unsuccessful and Serenity remained. In 1960, the nose was reported to be missing. By 2009, her left hand and a big toe were also gone. Most recently, the sculpture's face was painted Black with a red smile in April of 2013, prompting many of those who walk in the park to complain about the statue's unseemly appearance to the National Park Service.

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