Grand Army Plaza

Why go

The two halves present different kinds of public monument within sight of one another. On the park side, Sherman follows the figure of Victory; across 59th Street, Pomona crowns the Pulitzer Fountain. Their placement makes the junction more than a traffic crossing and gives the park entrance a distinct ceremonial character.

What to look for

• Saint-Gaudens’s gilded Sherman monument includes the leading figure of Victory.
• The Roman goddess Pomona tops the Pulitzer Fountain.
• 59th Street divides the paired plazas beside Fifth Avenue.

The full story

The plaza developed from an idea proposed by sculptor Karl Bitter in 1898. Carrère and Hastings designed the paired spaces, completed in 1916, and the city named them Grand Army Plaza in 1923 in reference to the Union Army of the Potomac. The arrangement brought a formal public setting to an entrance already connected with Central Park’s carriage drives through Scholars Gate. The Sherman monument and Pulitzer Fountain use distinct sculptural languages. Augustus Saint-Gaudens placed the mounted general behind an allegorical Victory, while Bitter’s fountain is topped by Pomona. The setting also records a transformation of Fifth Avenue. Cornelius Vanderbilt II’s elaborate mansion once stood on the south side, on the site later occupied by Bergdorf Goodman. Together with the hotel, the plaza links the avenue’s residential wealth, monumental public art and later commercial identity within a small area that can be read on foot.

Useful to know

• Look at both halves of the plaza to compare the military monument and fountain.
• Combine the sculptures with an exterior view of The Plaza Hotel before entering Central Park.

Your next visit

Estimated · Declared scenario and planning estimates; no live opening, weather, queue or booking service.