Firemen’s Memorial
Croton Water ProjectIn 1835, the Great Fire destroyed 674 buildings in lower Manhattan. Not coincidentally, one of the greatest boons to New York’s firefighters was completed 7 years later, in 1842: the Croton Water Project. A series of dams and aqueducts brought water from 50 miles north of the city to a huge reservoir at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. From there, it was pumped underground through Manhattan. Soon the number of buildings destroyed by fire in Manhattan sank from hundreds at a time to a handful. George Morris (author of "Woodman, Spare that Tree") wrote a poem in 1842 that became a hit song in New York: a rare musical celebration of an engineering triumph. Water leaps as if delighted, A Brief Visual History of Firefighting in New York
Above: 1750
Above: The Great Fire of 1835; the tall building just right of center is the Merchants Exchange, which held a sculpture of Hamilton
Above: Steam-driven fire engine, 1840 (from the base of Ericsson)
Above: Fire engine at Union Square in 1869, passing Washington
Above: Fire towers, 1874
Above: Firefighters in 1898
Above: Firefighters in 1911 - just before the Firemen’s Memorial was dedicated
Above: 1913, the year the Firemen’s Memorial was dedicated Attilio PiccirilliPiccirilli (1866-1945) was a member of a family of Tuscan stonecutters whose studio was in the Bronx. The Piccirillis carved for Daniel Chester French (including the Continents at the Customs House and the Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial in Washington), and for John Quincy Adams Ward (including the New York Stock Exchange pediment), plus works such as the lions outside New York Public Library, 1911 (Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street), parts of the Washington Arch, ca. 1895-1918, and the Pulitzer Fountain, 1916 (Fifth Avenue at 58th Street). Of Attilio's own design are the sculptures on the Maine Monument and the Firemen's Memorial, both 1913, as well as Youth Leading Industry and Joy of Life at Rockefeller Center, ca. 1936 and 1937 (636 Fifth Avenue and 15 West 48th Street, respectively), the pediments of the Frick Art Reference Library (71st Street off Fifth Avenue), and the doors of the Riverside Church (Riverside Drive at 122nd Street). Brooklyn has Indian Literature and Indian Law Giver, ca. 1900 (Brooklyn Museum). The Bronx has Columbus (East 183rd Street, Crescent Avenue and Adams Street - worth the trip) and Outcast, 1908 (Woodlawn Cemetery). Cross References
Copyright (c) 2013 Dianne L. Durante |