Living Monuments - Clio

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1. Quincy Market

Quincy Market is one of the most impressive large-scale market halls built in the country during the 19th century. It was designed by the renowned Boston architect Alexander Parris, and is noteworthy for its radical architectural style and pioneering structural innovations. Despite restorations, the structure has remained largely unaltered over the centuries, and in 1966 Quincy Market was added to the List of National Historic Landmarks in Boston.

2. Faneuil Hall

Faneuil Hall in Boston, Massachusetts was built in 1742 by merchant Peter Faneuil as a gift to the city to support civic and economic life as both a marketplace and a place for public meetings. The original structure was destroyed by fire in 1761 but rebuilt the following year. Similar to some New England merchants in the colonial period, Faneuil owned slaves earned some of his fortune from the slave trade, and some of Boston's earliest slave auctions took place at this location. Despite its connection to slavery, Faneuil Hall was also the location of numerous gatherings by future rebel leaders in the years leading up to the American Revolution. For example, in 1764 this building was the site of a protest against the Sugar Act. As a result of its connection to many patriot leaders, this building is sometimes referred to as the "Cradle of Liberty" and remains one of the most significant sites related to Boston's early history and its connection to the American Revolution.

3. Bill Russell Statue

This statue honoring Bill Russell, one of the most dominant professional basketball players of his era, is located near Boston's City Hall. Rather than placing the statue near the Old Boston Garden, this statue of the Boston Celtics center is in a place generally reserved for political leaders and activists. In many ways, the fact that Russell's statue is located near a civic building is appropriate given his civil rights activism, particularly in the 1960s for integrated schools in Boston. Russell led the Celtics for thirteen seasons but was still despised by many white Celtics fan because he challenged residential segregation and spoke about about racism. Although few could deny that Russell was the best player for a Celtic team that dominated the 1960s, few Celtics fans wore his jersey during the years that Russell led the team to a total of eleven championships.

4. Edgar Allen Poe Statue

As a result of an urban renewal project, the original house and street where Edgar Allan Poe was born and raised no longer exist. However, in 2009 the small plaza close to Poe’s original home was renamed the “Edgar Allan Poe Square.” On October 5th, 2014, a statue was commissioned by the Edgar Allan Poe Foundation of Boston. The statue, named “Poe Returning to Boston,” depicts Poe briskly walking through the Edgar Allan Poe Square. The statue, a bronze figure with papers flying from a briefcase and accompanied by a giant raven, was designed by Stefanie Rocknak and represented the crowning achievement of The Poe Foundation of Boston, which formally dissolved the year after the statue was completed. The statue is designed to represent Poe’s inherent hatred of the city he was raised in. Rocknak made the choice to have Poe rushing away from Frog Pond, something Poe associated with Boston’s established literature and writers who he once described as “Frogpondians.”

5. The Equestrian Statue of George Washington

The George Washington statue is a bronze monument located in America’s first public botanical garden, the Boston Public Garden established in 1837. The monument, which commemorates America’s first President and Revolutionary War general, is one the largest statues in Boston. The statue was funded mostly by public donations in 1859. Although there were delays due to bronze shortages during the Civil War, it was erected in the Gardens in 1869.

6. Boston Women's Memorial

Dedicated in 2003, this memorial celebrates the lives of three of the most historically significant women in American history: Abigail Adams, Lucy Stone, and Phillis Wheatley. Each of the tree women honored by the memorial faced threats and opposition but were committed to social change. The authors of poetry, essays and books, each of these three women offered contributions that demonstrate the intellectual roots of the movements against slavery and for the civil and political rights of women. Each of the three women honored are shown in poses that reflect the use of their language as writers, essayists, and poets.

7. Ted Williams Statue

This statue commemorates Boston Red Sox Hall-of-Fame slugger Ted Williams (1918-2002). A native of San Diego, he spent his entire major league career with the Red Sox. During that time, Williams won two American League Triple Crowns and six batting titles. He remains to this day the last major league player to hit .400 or above in a season. More than simply a great professional baseball player, Williams served his country in the Second World War and the Korean War. He also made frequent visits to local hospitals to visit ailing children during his playing career. Shortly after Williams’ death, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino suggested that a statue of the Red Sox great be erected in the city. A. Hank Evanish, who received his flight training under Williams many decades earlier, agreed to bankroll the project. Designed by sculptor Franc Talarico, the eight-and-a-half-foot-tall bronze statue depicts Williams standing, holding a baseball bat on his left shoulder. He gently places his baseball hat on the head of a bronze cancer-stricken boy, with whom he shares a four-foot-tall granite pedestal. Talarico drew inspiration for the statue of the boy from Einar “Jimmy” Gustafson, the sickly twelve-year-old who in 1948 helped kick start the Jimmy Fund, which still raises money for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Dedicated in April 2004, the bronze pair stands outside Gate B of Boston’s historic Fenway Park.

This Tour is a Walking Tour.

Living Monuments

Created by Cherie Wan on November 24th 2019, 10:28:37 pm.

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Description

The well-established practice of recording “significant” moments of history has created the long- standing tradition of monuments in the United States. Although one may argue the extent to which these monuments have recorded a collective memory of what we deem as “significant” moments, it is no doubt that our understanding of history often correspond to these figures propped-up all over our urban landscape. With such heavy importance placed on the shoulders of these monuments, is our reading of them established by recognizing the generic conditions of a figure perched-up on a pedestal? Or can our understanding be further provoked when these conventions are interrogated? My investigation seeks to intimidate our conventional understanding of monuments and the extent to which these conventions have been challenged to a point where it is no longer just a memorial placed in space, but rather one that embraces the dynamic nature of which our city has been designed to be and evolves along with it.

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