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 * Grand Army Plaza
 * ("grand army plaza" or "g. a. r. plaza" or "prospect park" "plaza" or "prospect" "park plaza") and ("Brooklyn" OR "New York") NOT ("other" "no title" OR "Classified Ad" OR "Display Ad" OR "Spare Times" OR "The Listings: Art" OR "events today")
 * https://www.nyc.gov/assets/lpc/downloads/pdf/presentation-materials/20190813/Grand%20Army%20Plaza.pdf

Grand Army Plaza, originally known as Prospect Park Plaza, is a public plaza that comprises the northern corner and the main entrance of Prospect Park in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It consists of concentric oval rings arranged as streets, with the namesake Plaza Street comprising the outer ring. The inner ring is arranged as an ovoid roadway that carries the main street – Flatbush Avenue. Eight radial roads connect Vanderbilt Avenue; Butler Place; two separate sections of Saint John's Place; Lincoln Place; Eastern Parkway; Prospect Park West; Union Street; and Berkeley Place.

The plaza includes multiple artworks and monuments, in addition to the Soldiers' and Sailors' Arch and the Bailey Fountain.

Site
Grand Army Plaza includes an inner traffic circle and an outer road. Six streets intersect at the center of the plaza: Flatbush Avenue, Vanderbilt Avenue, Eastern Parkway, Prospect Park West, Union Street, and Park Drive. At the south end of the plaza is Park Drive, a roadway leading into Prospect Park, which has been closed to vehicular traffic since 2018. In total, ten streets intersect with the plaza or its outer roads.

The area surrounding the plaza had mostly contained single-family residences during the late 19th century. In the early 20th century, there was a horse stable and clubhouse on the plaza, in addition to a hotel called the Plaza Hotel. By the late 1920s, many of the houses around Grand Army Plaza were being replaced with apartments, including several high-rise structures. The Brooklyn Public Library's Central Library opened on the southeast corner of the plaza in 1941 after decades of sporadic development. Richard Meier's 1 Grand Army Plaza apartment building was also developed on the plaza in the 2000s.

Transportation
The station is served by two New York City Subway stations and multiple bus routes. The Grand Army Plaza station, built in 1920 on the IRT Eastern Parkway Line, is on the north end of the plaza, while the Seventh Avenue station on the BMT Brighton Line is several blocks northwest. The buses stop at Union Street and 7th Avenue, two blocks north, while the  bus stops on Flatbush Avenue.

There were plans for a subway line under Grand Army Plaza as early as the 1900s, when a four-track line under Flatbush Avenue was proposed, along with a turning loop under the plaza. The current Eastern Parkway and Brighton lines were respectively developed by Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) and Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT; later Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation or BMT) as part of the Dual Contracts. In 1913, the IRT was authorized to extend its Brooklyn line (now Eastern Parkway Line) under Flatbush Avenue, while the BRT was authorized to develop an extension of its existing Brighton Beach Line along the same avenue. The IRT line opened in 1920, and the BRT line opened the same year,

Plaza and monuments
The plaza includes the Soldiers' and Sailors' Arch; the Bailey Fountain; the John F. Kennedy Monument; statues of Civil War generals Gouverneur K. Warren and Henry Warner Slocum; busts of notable Brooklyn citizens Alexander Skene and Henry W. Maxwell; and two 12-sided gazebos with "granite Tuscan columns, Guastavino vaulting, and bronze finials".

When the plaza was constructed, the Brooklyn Union wrote that the plaza "has been designed with great skill in regard to the streets and avenues which it intersects". Similarly, The New York Times wrote that "the plaza is laid out in such graceful lines, and with such an air of grandeur, that one feels as if he is about to enter upon, as he really is, the home of nature."

Fountain
Near the southern end of the plaza is the Bailey Fountain, which was designed by Egerton Swartwout and sculpted by Eugene Savage. The fountain consists of five figures, which represent virtues or mythological subjects. The fountain's red-granite base measures 84 by across, and it has a pool measuring 14.5 by long. Completed in 1932, it was renovated in 1956 and 2005.

There have been three fountains on the site of the Bailey Fountain, dating back to 1867. The first was Fountain of the Golden Spray, which was illuminated at night. The fountain was replaced in 1873 with a domed fountain made of Beton Coignet stone and colored-glass panes, which was illuminated in different colors at night. Yet another fountain, known as the electric fountain, was built in 1897. The electric fountain had a circular basin measuring 120 ft in diameter; inside the basin were jets of water, arranged in two concentric circles. The third fountain was removed entirely in 1915.

Arch
Near the southern end of the plaza is the Soldiers' and Sailors' Arch, which was designed by John H. Duncan and completed in 1892. Philip Martiny designed the spandrels on the structure's north and south facades, at the upper corners of the archway. The structure measures a total of 80 ft tall, 80 feet wide, and 50 ft deep, while the interior of the archway is 50 feet tall and 35 ft wide. The arch has decorative spandrels on both the northern and the southern facades. The structure's parapet was to have globes with eagles resting above them. Inside were two stairways, of which one was originally was for people climbing to the top of the arch, and the other was for people returning down to ground level. The sculptor Frederick MacMonnies was hired to design sculptures for the plaza's arch.

Other structures
The plaza includes various sculptured figures that were added in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. At the southwest corner of the plaza, on the sidewalk near Union Street, the statue of Gouverneur K. Warren was dedicated in 1896. The bronze sculpture, depicting U.S. military general Gouverneur K. Warren, stands atop a green granite pedestal. Near the intersection of Plaza Street East and St. John's Place is the Henry W. Maxwell Memorial, dedicated in 1903. The Maxwell memorial consists of a bronze tablet featuring a relief of Maxwell affixed to a boulder. At the southern end of the plaza are entrances to Prospect Park, flanked by four Doric columns. The first two columns were installed in 1893 to complement the Soldiers' and Sailors' Arch, while the other two were installed by 1896. The columns do not represent anything in particular; they each measure 50 ft tall and are topped with bronze globes and eagles. Each eagle was designed by MacMonnies and weighs 1200 lb. During the late 19th century, there were two wooden shelters next to the Prospect Park entrance, which were replaced with Grecian-style shelters in the 1890s. Each of these shelters measures 20 ft across and is supported by round pillars. A decorative openwork fence runs along Flatbush Avenue and Prospect Park West, and it is interspersed with 16 bronze vases.

Creation and 1870s
Prior to the plaza's construction, the site played a small role in the 1776 Battle of Long Island, the biggest battle of the American Revolutionary War. The 1861 plan for Prospect Park, prepared by Egbert Viele, included an elliptical plaza at the intersection of Flatbush and Ninth avenues. Following a delay, Calvert Vaux was hired to review Viele's plans early in 1865. Vaux and Frederick Law Olmsted presented a new proposal for the park in February 1865, which called for an oval plaza at the northern end of the park; the plaza was inspired by the Place Charles de Gaulle in Paris. That April, the New York State Legislature authorized Prospect Park's commissioners to acquire land for a plaza at the intersection of Flatbush and Ninth avenues. The commissioners paid $158,558 for about 19 acre of land. As planned, the Fountain of the Golden Spray was placed at the center of the plaza, and there were plantings around it. A promenade connected the corner of Flatbush Avenue and Grand Army Plaza with the fountain. The plaza was also paved in Belgian blocks, and the area near the fountain had a statue of the 16th U.S. president, Abraham Lincoln. The plaza otherwise lacked decorations.

In October 1866, the then-separate city of Brooklyn's Board of Aldermen adopted a resolution directing the city's street commissioner to survey land for Prospect Park's main entrance plaza. During the next year, Prospect Park's commissioners graded the plaza's site and constructed driveways leading to and from the plaza. By mid-1867, the western side of the plaza had been graded, and Prospect Park's commissioners had requested bids to pave the plaza in Belgian blocks. The first section of the park opened to the public on October 19, 1867, while it was still under construction; these initial sections included part of the park's east drive at Prospect Park Plaza. That year, the park commissioners approved the installation of the Lincoln statue. Work on paving the plaza, and the installation of the fountain and Lincoln statue's pedestal, continued through 1868.

The Lincoln statue, designed by Henry Kirke Brown, was installed at the plaza on October 21, 1869. The same year, a New York state legislator introduced a bill to create an 80 ft street surrounding the plaza; the bill was passed in May 1870. The street, now Plaza Streets West and East, cost $18,604 to construct. A new fountain was added to the center of Prospect Park Plaza in 1873, replacing the original fountain on the site. During that year, the plaza was resurfaced in concrete. Streetcar tracks and gas-lit streetlamps were also added along the plaza during the 1870s.

1880s and 1890s
Plaza Street, on the plaza's perimeter, remained unpaved through the 1880s. The Brooklyn park commissioners decided to install streetlamps and repave the plaza in 1885. Simultaneously, the Grand Army of the Republic's (GAR) memorial committee was asking Brooklyn city officials to install a monument to GAR veterans on Prospect Park Plaza. The plaza had so little ornamentation that, by 1887, the Brooklyn park commissioners described the plaza as a "great failure, suggestive of Siberia in winter and Sahara in summer". There were proposals to build a statue of the preacher Henry Ward Beecher at Prospect Park Plaza, although the statue was ultimately installed inside Prospect Park instead. Work on a memorial arch, designed by John H. Duncan, commenced in October 1889. Four existing streetcar tracks in the plaza were rerouted to make way for the monument. In 1891, the Brooklyn Park Department requested $50,000 to renovate the plaza's fountain and pave the plaza with stone blocks. There were proposals to plant grass plots and flower beds in the plaza as well. The arch was dedicated in October 1892, and Brooklyn's park commissioners erected two massive columns at the Prospect Park entrance the next year. Though the park commissioners had long claimed authority over Prospect Park Plaza, a New York Supreme Court judge ruled in 1893 that Brooklyn's board of aldermen controlled the plaza.

A Brooklyn city alderman introduced legislation in early 1895 to replace the plaza's fountain and move the Lincoln statue into Prospect Park. Officials also announced plans for more columns, Greek-style shelters, and a balustrade; these improvements were to cost up to $100,000. Brooklyn's park commissioners authorized the fountain's removal and statue's relocation that May, but no funds were provided for the fountain's removal. The Lincoln statue was moved to the park's Concert Grove, and a granite fence was constructed on either side of the plaza's entrance to Prospect Park. McKim, Mead & White were also hired to design a marble, bronze, and granite entryway from the plaza to the park. A statue of Gouverneur K. Warren was dedicated at the plaza in 1896, and Brooklyn's park commissioners received $50,000 to replace the plaza's Belgian-block pavement with macadam. The park commissioners also rerouted the trolley tracks in the plaza to make way for a sidewalk, and the space under and around the arch was paved.

The existing fountain was demolished in early 1897. T. W. Darlington was hired that May to design a new electric fountain for the plaza, which was publicly dedicated on August 7, 1897. The sculptor Frederick MacMonnies was hired to design sculptures for the plaza's arch, as well as eagles atop the columns. After Brooklyn was merged into the City of Greater New York in 1898, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation's (NYC Parks) landscape architect John De Wolf drew up plans to replace much of the plaza's pavement with grass, roads, and flower beds. In addition, NYC Parks' Brooklyn commissioner, George V. Brower, proposed constructing bike paths and circular sidewalks within Prospect Park Plaza. A quadriga designed by MacMonnies was installed atop the Soldiers' and Sailors' Arch in 1898; the remaining statues were not all installed until 1901.

1900s and 1910s
As early as the 1900s, the plaza was unofficially known as Grand Army Plaza because of the presence of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Arch. A statue commemorating U.S. military general Edward Brush Fowler was proposed for Prospect Park Plaza during 1900. Henry Baerer was hired to design the monument, but the Municipal Art Commission did not allow the statue to be installed on the plaza. Meanwhile, the plaza's fountain had operated for only two years before being deactivated in 1900. Two years later, NYC Parks decided to convert the fountain's basin as to aquatic display. The Municipal Art Commission approved another monument, honoring gynecologist Alexander Skene, on the northern side of the plaza in 1904. In addition, the southern end of the plaza was selected as the site of the proposed Brooklyn Central Library, though there were objections that the library's presence would spoil the plaza's symmetrical design. A local civic group, the Prospect Heights Citizens' Association, advocated for the New York City government to acquire land near the plaza for public buildings and to restrict new developments on the plaza itself. In addition, there were proposals for an arts center along Prospect Park Plaza during the 1900s and 1910s.

After the subway system's Dual Contracts were enacted in 1913, three subway stations were proposed in the vicinity of the plaza, including a station directly below the plaza's northern end. A groundbreaking ceremony for the subway extension took place at the plaza the next year. Workers drilled a shaft in the middle of the plaza for the subway tunnel, and the plaza's fountain was removed in 1915 to make way for the subway's construction. The plaza was closed to most traffic except for streetcars. By 1917, the segment of the subway tunnel under Prospect Park Plaza was completed, and the subway tunnel's contractors announced plans to construct an elliptical, 415 by grass median in the middle of the plaza. Brooklyn borough officials also requested $50,000 from the New York City Board of Estimate to replace some of the plaza's Belgian-block pavement. The Board of Estimate allocated $55,000 for the project, and a contract to repave the plaza was awarded later that year. The plaza's renovation was completed by 1919.

1920s to 1940s
City alderman Howard Fenn suggested renaming Prospect Park Plaza to Columbus Plaza in 1923. The next year, several memorial trees on Bedford Avenue were relocated to the plaza due to subway construction at Bedford Avenue. Another alderman proposed renaming Prospect Park Plaza in February 1926 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Grand Army of the Republic. The plaza was renamed Grand Army Plaza on March 19, 1926; it was the second in the city to be named for the GAR, after the former Fifth Avenue Plaza in Manhattan. Prospect Park Plaza was formally rededicated on May 9.

The "Death-O-Meter", a sign admonishing drivers to "Slow Up" and displaying a tally of traffic-crash deaths in Brooklyn, was installed at the plaza in 1927. The GAR also announced plans to relocate a statue of Civil War general Henry Warner Slocum from Prospect Park's 15th Street entrance to Grand Army Plaza, and the city awarded a $4,450 contract for the relocation. The statue was moved to the southern tip of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Arch in April 1928 and was rededicated that May. To reduce vehicular crashes, the New York City Police Department (NYPD) painted road surface markings on the plaza. The financier Frank Bailey also donated $100,000 for the construction of a new fountain in Grand Army Plaza, and there was an architectural design competition for the fountain. Lamps were installed in the plaza's median in June 1929. The same month, Egerton Swartwout won the design competition for the Bailey Fountain and outlined plans to reconstruct the plaza's central oval. Part of the plaza was closed that October for the construction of Bailey's fountain.

To ease congestion, in 1930, city officials began diverting traffic from the plaza onto Plaza Street during rush hours. There were also proposals for a highway running from Grand Army Plaza to the Triborough Bridge in Queens; the planned highway was later rerouted due to congestion at the plaza. A local civic group also proposed a tunnel under the plaza to alleviate congestion there. Meanwhile, the installation of the Bailey Fountain was delayed because of the time-consuming process of creating the fountain's sculptures. The base of the Bailey Fountain was in place by April 1931, though the fountain's figures were not installed until that December. The fountain was completed in May 1932, and Brooklyn park workers renovated the plaza that year. The work was completed the next year and included new hedges, walkways, retaining walls, lighting, and other landscaping.

NYC Parks announced plans for a further redesign in 1935, including a relocated pathway around Bailey Fountain and new trees around the central oval. Following some delays, Works Progress Administration (WPA) employees began restoring the plaza in 1938, relocating trolley tracks and adding traffic islands to increase pedestrian safety. They also widened the roadway by about 20 ft and added a pathway, a new curb, and granite steps. The project included about 1,680 new plants, such as sycamores, crabtrees, and Norway maple trees. The WPA renovation was completed by May 1939, and the agency installed 18 benches on the east side of the plaza two years later. NYC Parks planted 55,000 tulip bulbs in the plaza in 1946; they were gifted by Dutch tulip growers on the condition that they be removed after a year.

1950s to 1970s
Grand Army Plaza had become one of New York City's most congested and dangerous intersections by the 1950s, in part due to the large number of streets that intersected there. The New York World-Telegram described it as "the only concrete and asphalt roulette wheel in the world". New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) engineers began a study of the plaza in 1950, and traffic lights and crosswalks were added the next year to improve safety. The NYCDOT also modified traffic signals to speed up southbound traffic during the afternoon, and they painted traffic islands onto the roadway. To further improve safety, the NYCDOT installed pedestrian signals in 1955. NYC Parks again reconfigured the plaza in 1958. As part of the project, new curbs and street lights were installed, and several traffic islands for streetcar passengers were removed, as streetcar service had been discontinued. The next year, a flagpole was dedicated at the plaza.

After Brooklyn borough president Abe Stark and NYC Parks commissioner Newbold Morris proposed spending $150,000 to renovate Grand Army Plaza, workers began restoring the plaza in mid-1963. The project included restoring the Bailey Fountain and adding lights to the Soldiers' and Sailors' Arch. The project also included replacing some pavement, curbs, and stairs. Following the assassination of John F. Kennedy, an eternal flame honoring Kennedy was proposed at Grand Army Plaza the same year. The flame was originally planned to be suspended from the arch, but when Morris and Stark approved the monument in 1964, the monument was instead relocated alongside the arch. The monument was dedicated on May 29, 1965, on what would have been Kennedy's 48th birthday.

1980s and 1990s
The Soldiers' and Sailors' Arch was restored in 1980 after its rooftop sculpture was damaged in a 1976 windstorm. During the 1980s, there were plans to rebuild the plaza, although the plans were deferred over a lack of funding. By 1993, there were plans to rebuild the entrance to Prospect Park from the plaza. Work included repaving the sidewalks and repairing the eagles, and there were also plans to rebuild the plaza itself. As part of a $1.3 million renovation, the eagle statues atop the columns at the park's entrance were temporarily removed in 1994 and restored by Modern Art Foundry; the eagles were reinstalled the next year.

By the late 1990s, the plaza recorded more accidents than any other intersection in the city, with one accident every 1.3 days on average. New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) officials again began reconsidering renovating the plaza in 1999, and the Prospect Park Alliance also considered renovating the Bailey Fountain, which had stopped working. The NYCDOT proposed installing large highway signs in the plaza to guide drivers, though NYC Parks objected to the installation of bright-green signs, citing esthetic concerns. The NYCDOT ultimately agreed to install brown signs, a color also used by street signs in the city's historic districts; the revised signs were installed in late 2000. The NYCDOT also painted traffic islands onto the roadway, and it retimed the traffic lights to give pedestrians more time to cross.

2000s and 2010s
The Prospect Park Alliance announced a $1.5 million renovation of the Bailey Fountain in 2003; the project included repairing the fountain and stabilizing the plaza's foundations. The Kennedy sculpture was also removed for restoration, although it was not reinstalled for several years due to disputes over funding. The Bailey Fountain was restored in 2006.

The Prospect Park Alliance, Transportation Alternatives, the Brooklyn Public Library, and other groups established the Grand Army Plaza Coalition in 2006 to devise ways to improve safety in the plaza. The group also hired Danish urban planner Jan Gehl to conduct a study of the plaza. The NYCDOT added traffic islands and bike paths in 2007 to make it more accessible to pedestrians and cyclists. In 2008, the Grand Army Plaza Coalition and the Design Trust for Public Space hosted a competition to redesign Grand Army Plaza; the two groups announced four winning proposals that September. At the same time, the NYCDOT made accessibility improvements, putting sidewalks and planters in many of the striped areas.

The city government announced plans in February 2009 to install Brooklyn's first public pay toilet at Grand Army Plaza. The toilet was installed in 2011 as the city's third public pay toilet; it served 18 people per day by the late 2010s. Meanwhile, the Grand Army Plaza Coalition announced plans for further modifications in 2010, including a separated bike path and new crosswalks. The upgrades also included a traffic light in the plaza's southbound roadway, three expanded traffic islands, and a new pedestrian path.

2020s to present
The New York City government gave the Prospect Park Alliance $8.9 million in August 2018 for a full restoration of the plaza, including restoration of the arch, new trees, and new berms on the plaza's western and eastern ends. Designs for the project were announced in November 2020. The city began restoring the berms in late 2022, replacing some flora and adding fences, paths, and embankments. The Prospect Park Alliance budgeted $3 million for the berms. Work on the arch's restoration began in May 2023 and was expected to take a year.

Meanwhile, In November 2022, the NYCDOT started soliciting public feedback for a proposal to close Grand Army Plaza permanently to vehicular traffic, converting the plaza to a pedestrian zone. The proposed pedestrian zone would connect with Underhill and Vanderbilt avenues, which are restricted to vehicular traffic as part of the city's Open Streets program. The New York State Department of Transportation allocated $1.8 million in 2024 to study traffic in the plaza.

Usage
In the late 19th and early 20th century, the Brooklyn Riding and Driving Club hosted annual horse shows along Grand Army Plaza. In addition, starting in 1920, a Christmas tree was erected near the arch every year. A popular farmer's market, part of the Greenmarket program of GrowNYC is held on the plaza in front of Prospect Park every Saturday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The plaza has also been used for art installations. For example, it was used as a setting for outdoor art exhibits during the 1930s. During the 2024 restoration of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Arch, a set of works by local contemporary artists was placed at the arch's base.