|
Liberty Memorial
|
|
| Location: | Kansas City, Missouri |
|---|---|
| Built: | 1926 |
| Architect: | Harold Van Buren Magonigle, Westlake Construction Company |
| Architectural style: | Beaux Arts Classicism, Egyptian Revival |
| Governing body: | Local |
| NRHP Reference#: | 00001148 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP: | September 20, 2006[1] |
| Designated NHL: | September 20, 2006[2] |
The Liberty Memorial, located in Kansas City, Missouri, USA, is a memorial to the fallen soldiers of World War I and houses the The National World War I Museum, as designated by the United States Congress in 2004.[3]. Groundbreaking commenced November 1, 1921, and the city held a site dedication. The memorial was completed and dedicated on November 11, 1926.
On September 21, 2006, Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne declared Liberty Memorial a National Historic Landmark.[4]
Contents |
The memorial in Penn Valley Park was designed by Harold Van Buren Magonigle who won a design competition. The primary sculptor was Robert Aikten. The approaches were designed by Wight and Wight.
By the time World War I ended on November 11, 1918, many citizens of Kansas and Missouri had lost their lives and a movement to build a monument for their sacrifices and the surviving veterans arose. A group of 40 prominent citizens formed a Memorial Association and chose lumber baron and philanthropist Robert A. Long, who had personally given a large sum of money, as president[5]. Others included:
The city council appointed the association to look into the possibility of a monument and funding. In less than a year the association had spearheaded a fund drive that included 83,000 contributors and collected more than 2.5 million dollars. There would not be the monetary problems that plagued the Bunker Hill Monument.
It was dedicated on November 11, 1926, by U.S. President Calvin Coolidge. In attendance at the groundbreaking ceremony on November 1, 1921, were Lieutenant General Baron Jacques of Belgium, Admiral Earl Beatty of Great Britain, General Armando Diaz of Italy, Marshal Ferdinand Foch of France, and General John Pershing of the United States. In 1935, bas reliefs by Walker Hancock of Jacques, Beatty, Diaz, Foch and Pershing were unveiled.
The Memorial and Monument are managed by a non-profit organization[7] in cooperation with the Kansas City Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners.[3]
The design of the building is designed in the classical Egyptian Revival style of architecture with a limestone exterior. The foundation was constructed using sawed granite, and the exterior ground level walls are made of Bedford stone. The main doors at the top of a large set of stairs are made from ornamental bronze, and the walls of the first floor lobby are finished in Kasota stone, which was quarried in Kasota, Minnesota. The first floor corridor and the grand stairway are finished in travertine that was imported from Italy. The floors of the corridors and stairway treads are made from terrazzo and Kasota marble, and the balusters and railing are made from Italian travertine and Italian tavernelle clairemarble.
At night, the top of the memorial tower emits steam illuminated by bright orange lights. This effect creates the illusion of a burning pyre and can be seen for some distance.
In 1981, the building underwent a major renovation which updated existing systems to modern code specifications.
The grounds were designed by George Kessler who had rocketed to fame on the strength of his City Beautiful design for the Kansas City park and boulevard system.[8]. The road on the west side of the Memorial is Kessler Road.
Liberty Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri houses the official World War I museum of the United States. Designated in 2004 by the United States Congress as America's official museum dedicated to World War I, the new museum opened to the public in December 2006. The new subterranean facility was designed by Ralph Appelbaum Associates [10] and greatly expands the original facilities that are still housed on the main deck of the Liberty Memorial: Exhibition Hall and Memory Hall.
The National World War I Museum tells the story of the Great War and related global events from their origins before 1914 through the 1918 Armistice and 1919 Paris Peace Conference. Visitors enter the 32,000-square-foot (3,000 m2) facility across a glass bridge above a field of 9,000 red poppies, each one representing 1,000 WWI combatant deaths.
The museum consists of:
The first part of the museum focuses on the beginning of the Great War pre-U.S. involvement, while the last group of museum galleries focuses on the United States' military and civilian involvement in the war and President Woodrow Wilson's efforts for peace.[12][13]
Throughout the year, the museum hosts special guest lecturers, authors, exhibitions, plays and films related to World War I. Actors Kevin Costner and Louis Gossett Jr. are members of the museum's honorary board.
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||