Long Lost Statues of 19th Century Civic Giant Andrew H. Green,
Known as “The Father of Greater New York,” Rediscovered in Maine Garage
After months of tantalizing but fruitless historical detective work, Michael Miscione, an independent researcher based in New York City, rediscovered in a Maine garage two plaster copies of a long lost statue of Andrew Haswell Green (1820 – 1903), one of Gotham’s most influential but least-remembered civic leaders.
Mr. Miscione has long worked to raise awareness for Mr. Green. According to his research, the statues represent the only sculptural portrait of Mr. Green ever created, and are among the few surviving remnants of the New York City Golden Jubilee, a splashy but now forgotten municipal exposition held in 1948 to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the consolidation of the five boroughs. (See below for more about the Golden Jubilee.)  |
Mr. Green, who is called the “Father of Greater New York,” was the mastermind of the consolidation, a controversial measure that expanded New York City from some 60 sq. miles to over 300 sq. miles in 1898.
The consolidation was but one chapter of Mr. Green’s remarkable fifty-year career as a master planner, reformer, and preservationist. Mr. Green was largely responsible for the creation of Central, Morningside, Riverside and Ft. Washington Parks; the Washington Bridge; the Northern Manhattan street plan; the American Museum of Natural History, the Met, the New York Public Library, and the Bronx Zoo. Mr. Green also founded, in 1895, the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society, New York's first formal historic preservation organization.
The artworks belong to daughter of Karl H. Gruppe, the now-deceased sculptor who created them. When Mr. Miscione contacted her she was unaware of the exact contents of the musty crates she had long ago stored in the back of her garage after her father’s death.
Mr. Gruppe was a highly acclaimed artist who, for a time, served as the president of the National Sculpture Society. Early in his career he oversaw – and contributed to – New York City’s public monument collection. (See below for more about Mr. Gruppe.)
He is known to have sculpted at least three different-sized renderings of the Green statue: the two that Mr. Miscione and the owner found, measuring 18 and 32 inches, and an 8-foot version, now presumed lost, that stood at the entrance to the Golden Jubilee exposition. The photograph at left shows Mr. Gruppe putting the finishing touches on that sculpture while Mayor William O'Dwyer looks on. Some of Mr. Green's accomplishments are listed in the background. The last known occasion during which any of the pieces were displayed was in 1969 when the 32-inch version won a gold medal at a National Academy of Design annual show. |
All the Gruppe statues of Mr. Green are identical in design. They show a confident, but not cocky, Mr. Green as a mature man, standing erect, dressed in a long coat, bow tie and vest, clutching a crumpled hat in one hand. The surviving artworks showed minor chips, cracks and discoloration, but were essentially sound. The 32-inch copy has since been fully restored.
Mr. Miscione unveiled the artworks at a well-attended lecture titled “Remembering (and Forgetting) Andrew H. Green, the Man Who Transformed New York Into a World-Class City” at the Museum of the City of New York in February 2006. The event was co-sponsored by the museum and the New York Preservation Archive Project, a not-for-profit organization that seeks to document, preserve, and celebrate the history of preservation efforts in New York City.
Mr. Miscione and Mr. Gruppe's daughter hope a bronze copy of the statue will eventually be erected in a suitable public place in New York City, perhaps in the greenspace that the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation said it would name for Mr. Green in the future. (Parks, however, has forewarned Mr. Miscione that it generally does not accept pre-existing works of art.)
Currently, the only monuments to Mr. Green in the five boroughs are an obscure and forlorn stone bench in Central Park and an oil painting in City Hall that is off limits to public view. Other, more magnificent monuments had been suggested over the past century, but – except for Mr. Gruppe’s statues – none were ever built. Mr. Miscione discussed some of those proposals in his lecture at the museum.
According to the many historians and civic leaders who have supported Mr. Miscione’s efforts, Mr. Green has languished in obscurity for too long. A 2003 editorial in the New York Daily News, for example, endorsed the call for a new, grand monument to New York’s “forgotten giant.”
Mr. Green was shot to death in a case of mistaken identity in 1903 at the age of 83. He is buried in his hometown of Worcester, Massachusetts.
More About the New York City Golden Jubilee
The New York City Golden Jubilee, held in 1948, was multi-tiered, months-long commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the consolidation of the five boroughs of Greater New York. Its focal point was an exposition held at the Grand Central Palace, a pre-Coliseum trade show hall near Grand Central Station. The exposition mostly featured displays by various municipal agencies. Its biggest draw, however, was an exhibit entitled “Man and the Atom” which raved about the supposed cure-all that was atomic energy.
The celebration also featured a parade down Fifth Avenue in June and an international air show in July. The air show, which was attended by President Truman, inaugurated Idlewild Airport (later renamed John F. Kennedy Airport). The U. S. Post Office marked the milestone by issuing a “City of New York Golden Anniversary” five-cent airmail stamp.
Another Golden Jubilee event, a parade of fashion, had an interesting postscript. Mayor William O’Dwyer became enamored with one of the young models he met at the show and they eventually married. (The marriage ended in divorce several years later.)
After the exposition ended, the mayor had the exhibits dismantled and stored with the intention of re-erecting them elsewhere on a permanent basis. That never happened. The ultimate fate of the Golden Jubilee materials, including the 8-foot statue of Mr. Green, remains a mystery.  |
More About the Sculptor Karl H. Gruppe
Mr. Gruppe (1893 - 1982) trained at the Royal Academy in Antwerp, Belgium and at the Art Students League in New York City. He was named New York City's first Chief Monuments Restoration Officer in 1934 after complaining about the sorry state of Gotham's public sculpture. He served as the 19th president of the National Sculpture Society, 1950-51, and as a three-term member of the New York City Art Commission. His artwork won many awards.
Mr. Gruppe created several sculptural portraits of historical figures besides Mr. Green. His rendering of Henry Hudson is installed in Henry Hudson Memorial Park, the Bronx. His bust of John Philip Sousa can be seen at the Hall of Fame for Great Americans, also in the Bronx. And his statue of President Eisenhower is at Ike's presidential library in Abilene, Kansas.
The photograph at left shows Grover Whalen (bowtie), chairman of the Jubilee celebration, and other officials admiring the maquette of the proposed Andrew H. Green statue submitted by Mr. Gruppe (second from right). This was one of the two recently recovered statues.
Both images on this page courtesy of the NYC Municipal Archives.
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