Grand Army Plaza Entrance, c.1900
Photograph by Eugene Armbruster. Original photograph courtesy of The Brooklyn Historical Society. Digital copy available at the Prospect Park Archives.
This high-angle view of Grand Army Plaza was taken from the vantage point of the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch (1892). Designed by Olmsted and Vaux in 1865-67, this area was originally known simply as "The Plaza". Its design was minimal - just an oval plaza with a central fountain. The Plaza functioned as the main entrance to the Park. Over the next two decades, the architect John H. Duncan, the sculptor Frederick MacMonnies, and the architectural firm of McKim, Mead, and White transformed The Plaza into a much grander, more elaborate entrance, with four 35-foot Doric columns decorated with bronze eagles, pedestals supporting 14 heavily-planted bronze urns, and two 12-sided granite pavilions.
This photo predates the arrival of the bronze eagles, which were dedicated in 1901. The Grand Army Plaza entrance was and still is the busiest entryway to Prospect Park.