The Washington Irving Memorial is located at Broadway (US 9) and West Sunnyside Lane in Irvington, New York, United States. It features a bust of Irving and sculptures of two of his better-known characters by Daniel Chester French, set in a small stone plaza at the street corner designed by Charles A. Platt. It is near Irving's Sunnyside estate.
A local woman, Jennie Prince Black, pushed for the memorial's creation and construction in 1909, since Sunnyside was then still an Irving family residence closed to the public and his admirers had few places to pay their respects to him. Her dream took almost 20 years to realize. The memorial went through a tortuous construction process, passing through several proposed locations and many financial difficulties before it could finally be dedicated in 1927, a year later than originally planned. The opening of Sunnyside since then has led the Irving admirers there instead, but after a major restoration in the late 20th century it remains true to its original design. In 2000, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Read more about Washington Irving Memorial: Description, History, See Also, References
Famous quotes containing the words washington irving, washington, irving and/or memorial:
“Who ever hears of fat men heading a riot, or herding together in turbulent mobs?—No—no, ‘tis your lean, hungry men who are continually worrying society, and setting the whole community by the ears.”
—Washington Irving (1783–1859)
“For the people in government, rather than the people who pester it, Washington is an early-rising, hard-working city. It is a popular delusion that the government wastes vast amounts of money through inefficiency and sloth. Enormous effort and elaborate planning are required to waste this much money.”
—P.J. (Patrick Jake)
“A tart temper never mellows with age, and a sharp tongue is the only edged tool that grows keener with constant use.”
—Washington Irving (1783–1859)
“I hope there will be no effort to put up a shaft or any monument of that sort in memory of me or of the other women who have given themselves to our work. The best kind of a memorial would be a school where girls could be taught everything useful that would help them to earn an honorable livelihood; where they could learn to do anything they were capable of, just as boys can. I would like to have lived to see such a school as that in every great city of the United States.”
—Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906)