Washington Monument, (sculpture).

Washington Monument, (sculpture).

Mills, Robert, sculptor.

Washington Monument, (sculpture).

Digital Reference:

Exterior: marble; Interior: granite.

Approx. H. 555 ft. 5 1/2 in.

Homage -- Washington, George

Outdoor Sculpture -- District of Columbia -- Washington

Administered by United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Washington, District of Columbia

Located National Mall, Adjacent to 14th Street, between Constitution Avenue, N.W. & Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, District of Columbia

In 1833, a group of prominent citizens founded the Washington Monument Society to raise private funds for a memorial to George Washington. Robert Mills designed the monument in 1836. It was to be erected on a site chosen 45 years earlier by city planner Pierre L'Enfant. Mills' original design included a circular building at the base, surrounded by a colonnade of Doric columns and surmounted by groups of Neoclassical statues. Neither the large colonnade nor the statues were executed because of a lack of funds.

Construction of the obelisk began in 1848, but was not without controversy. The monument suffered political and physical abuse. At one point saboteurs seized monument office records and claimed possession of the monument. Recurrrent vandalism, lack of funds, and the coming Civil War brought construction to a halt in 1854/55.

For almost 25 years the monument stood incomplete at 150 feet, until Congress voted to complete the obelisk at government expense in August of 1876. The upper section of the monument was completed by the Army Corps of Engineers, but the marble is of a slightly different hue from that of the lower half. The monument opened to the public in 1886. The interior includes 898 steps and 50 landings. Included in the interior is a collection of over 250 memorial stones inset into the stairwell walls, presented by cities, states, patriotic organizations, individuals, Native-American tribes, and foreign governments in memory of George Washington. Private organizations included divergent groups ranging from the employess of the Robert Norris Locomotive Works of Philadelphia to the Jefferson Literary Society of the University of Virginia.

IAS files contain copy of Modern Maturity article which includes early photographs of the monument still under construction; and an excerpt from James Goode's text, "The Outdoor Sculpture of Washington, D.C.," (SI Press, 1974), which includes 1879 design for proposed remodeling of the Washington monument.

Goode, James M., "The Outdoor Sculpture of Washington, D.C.," Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1974, pg. 267-268.

Modern Maturity, vol. 29, Aug.-Sept. 1986, pg. 54-55.

Dupre, Judith, "Monuments: America's History in Art and Memory," New York, NY: Random House, Inc., 2007, pg. 54-57.

Goode, James M., "The Outdoor Sculpture of Washington, D.C.," Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1974, pg. 267.

Dupre, Judith, "Monuments: America's History in Art and Memory," New York, NY: Random House, Inc., 2007, pg. 54-55.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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