Characteristically American: Memorial Architecture, National Identity, and the Egyptian Revival

291 Pages·2014·2.304 MB·English

by  Joy M. Giguere

CHARACTERISTICALLY AMERICAN

Characteristically American
Memorial Architecture, National Identity, and the Egyptian Revival
JOY M. GIGUERE
THE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE PRESS / KNOXVILLE
Copyright © 2014 by The University of Tennessee Press / Knoxville.
All Rights Reserved. Manufactured in the United States of America.
First Edition.
Chapter 4 appeared in a different form in Journal of the Civil War Era. Volume 3, no. 1. Copyright © 2013 by the
University of North Carolina Press. Used by permission of the publisher. www.uncpress.unc.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Giguere, Joy M., 1980–
Characteristically American: memorial architecture, national identity, and the Egyptian revival / Joy M. Giguere.
— First edition.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-62190-077-1
1. Monuments—United States.
2. Egyptian revival (Architecture)—United States.
3. Nationalism and architecture—United States.
4. Architecture and society—United States.
I. Title.
NA9347.G54 2014
725’.940973—dc23
2013039690
FOR MY HUSBAND, BEN PROUD, MY CONSTANT SUPPORT
and
FOR MY UNCLE, RICHARD SIEMBAB, MY SOULMATE IN CEMETERIES

CONTENTS
PREFACE xi
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xv
INTRODUCTION 1
CHAPTER 1 The Dream of Egypt 17
CHAPTER 2 “The Dead Shall Be Raised”:
Egyptianizing in the Rural Cemetery Movement 49
CHAPTER 3 Revolutionary Monuments:
The Obelisks of Bunker Hill and Groton Heights 91
CHAPTER 4 America Conservata, Africa Liberata:
The American Sphinx at Mount Auburn Cemetery 127
CHAPTER 5 American Obelisk:
The Washington National Monument 163
CHAPTER 6 From Egyptian Revival to American Style 195
CODA The Broken Obelisk 225
NOTES 229
BIBLIOGRAPHY 249
INDEX 265

ILLUSTRATIONS
FIGURE 1 Christopher Columbus Monument, Baltimore, Maryland, 1792 61
FIGURE 2 Henry Griffiths, Baltimore Battle Monument, Engraving, 1838 62
FIGURE 3 Bust of Jacob Bigelow 64
FIGURE 4 Principal Entrance to Mount Auburn Cemetery, Lithograph, c. 1849 66
FIGURE 5 Portal at Karnak Temple, Egypt 67
FIGURE 6 Detail of entrance to Mount Auburn Cemetery 69
FIGURE 7 Medical College of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia, 1845 69
FIGURE 8 Main Entrance to Forest Hills Cemetery, Roxbury, Massachusetts, 1866 75
FIGURE 9 Kirk Boott Tomb, Mount Auburn Cemetery, c. 1830s 78
FIGURE 10 Joseph P. Bradlee Tomb, Mount Auburn Cemetery, c. 1830s 78
FIGURE 11 Nabby Joy Tomb, Mount Auburn Cemetery, c. 1830s 79
FIGURE 12 Lowell Tomb, Mount Auburn Cemetery, c. 1830s 79
FIGURE 13 Hicks-Endicott Tomb, Mount Auburn Cemetery, 1833 80
FIGURE 14 Stephen P. Fuller Tomb, Mount Auburn Cemetery, c. 1830s–40s 80
FIGURE 15 Henry Austin, Entrance to Grove Street Cemetery, New Haven,
Connecticut, 1845–48 82
FIGURE 16 Isaiah Rogers, Old Granary Burying Ground Pylon with Winged Hourglass,
Boston, 1840 83
FIGURE 17 “Memento Mori” Gate, Old Burying Ground, Farmington,
Connecticut, 1850 84
FIGURE 18 Isaiah Rogers, Entrance to the Jewish Touro Cemetery, Newport,
Rhode Island, 1843 85
FIGURE 19 Obelisks in the Jewish Touro Cemetery, Newport, Rhode Island 86
FIGURE 20 Entrance to Valley Cemetery, Manchester, New Hampshire, 1907 88
FIGURE 21 Entrance to Dorchester North Burying Ground, Boston, 1912 89
FIGURE 22 Groton Monument, Groton Heights, Connecticut, 1826–1830 93
FIGURE 23 Bunker Hill Monument, Charlestown, Massachusetts, 1825–1843 94
FIGURE 24 Chalmette Battle Monument, New Orleans, 1840–1908 95
FIGURE 25 Saratoga Battle Monument, Saratoga Springs, New York, 1877–1882 96
FIGURE 26 Bennington Battle Monument, Bennington, Vermont, 1889–1891 97
FIGURE 27 Richard Montgomery Monument, St. Paul’s Chapel,
New York City, 1776 99
FIGURE 28 Lexington Battle Monument, Lexington, Massachusetts, 1799 101
FIGURE 29 Daniel Webster, Chromolithograph, c. 1863 107