City Hall - Table of Contents
.............. Millard Fillmore
...............Grover Cleveland............
Public Art in Buffalo
Fillmore and Cleveland Monuments
at City
Hall
Buffalo, NY
|
Sculpted: |
1930 |
|
Sculptor: |
Bryant Baker |
|
Statue material: |
Bronze |
| Unveiling: | July
1, 1932 (Centennial celebration) The $25,000 Fillmore statue appropriation was provided by the New York State Legislature. |
|
Also by Bryant Baker: |
Abraham Lincoln statue in Delaware Park |
|
Excerpt
from The three-story diagonal walls on
the north and the south side of the front elevation are each used as
backdrops for monuments to the two Buffalo men who became presidents of
the United States. These monuments are part of the original design of
City Hall. The granite wall which forms the base of City Hall carries
beyond the building in two converging walls which stop short of
meeting, leaving an opening for steps to a raised terrace, in the
center of which stands a carved marble block, serving as a base for the
bronze statue. It is appropriate that City Hall, which everywhere shows
a concern for the history and place of Buffalo, should have such
memorials. Millard Fillmore stands
on the south side and Grover Cleveland
on the north. The block on which Cleveland stands bears the phrase "I have tried so hard to do right." Grover Cleveland was mayor of Buffalo in 1882; he was sheriff of Erie County, governor of New York, and twice president of the United States. The parapet wall, high above the statues, with stylized eagles at each end, was originally twice as high as at present. The walls were reduced when they became unstable. Inscriptions referring to each president were removed by the lowering of the walls. |
| 2008 photos Millard Fillmore        |
| 2008 photos Grover Cleveland            |
