The British Garden at Hanover Square in Lower Manhattan was dedicated today by HRH Prince Harry of Wales.
The perimeter of the garden will have 14 bollards bearing the shields of such Anglo-American societies as the Daughters of the British Empire, the Caledonian Club, St. David's Society, St. George's Society, American Scottish Foundation, St. Andrew's Society, Pilgrims, Mountbatten International Program, and the Sister Cities Program.
Designed by Isabel and Julian Bannerman, the garden honors the 67 British victims of the terrorists attacks on Lower Manhattan of September 11, 2001. Its motto is "Reflect, Remember, Rebuild" and the garden celebrates the strong ties of friendship between the United Kingdom and the United States.
The garden, which is located at William and Pearl Streets, has very attractive serpentine benches and lush landscaping and has been completed in a much shorter time than American efforts at Ground Zero. Hanover Square was named in 1714 for King George I, Elector of Hanover.
The park has hand-carved stone from Scotland, plantings from Prince Charles's estate and iron bollards from London.
In April, 2004, the British Memorial Garden Trust announced that Anish Kapoor had won the competition for a sculpture monument at the garden.
The 19.5-foot-high sculpture will be carved from a massive block of pure black granite. It will sit at the southern end of the park where it will serve as a focal point for Remembrance Day and other observances for the British and Commonwealth community.
The details of the sculpture are described in a statement from Anish Kapoor:
"The proposed memorial is for an object roughly 6 meters high by 2.5 meters wide by 1.5 meters deep. It is a block of black granite into which a vertical chamber is carved of approximately 1 meter by 2.5 meters by 80 centimeters in depth. The inner chamber is polished to give a mirrored surface. The chamber reflects light so as to form a column, which hovers, ghost-like, in the void of the stone. This very physically monolithic object then appears to create within itself an ephemeral reflection akin to an eternal flame."
Born in Bombay in 1954, Anish Kapoor is among the most prominent figures in British sculpture. His award-winning work has been exhibited around the world since the 1970s when he first moved to London to study art at Hornsey College and the Chelsea School of Art Design. In 1990 Mr. Kapoor represented Great Britain at the Venice Biennale where he was awarded the Premio Duemil by an international jury. In 1991, he won the coveted Turner Prize. He was elected Royal Academician in 1999, and in 2003, HM Queen Elizabeth II named Anish Kapoor a Commander of the British Empire (CBE).
The Unity sculpture for the British Memorial Garden Trust will serve as the centerpiece of the British Memorial Garden at Hanover Square.
The perimeter of the garden will have 14 bollards bearing the shields of such Anglo-American societies as the Daughters of the British Empire, the Caledonian Club, St. David's Society, St. George's Society, American Scottish Foundation, St. Andrew's Society, Pilgrims, Mountbatten International Program, and the Sister Cities Program.
Designed by Isabel and Julian Bannerman, the garden honors the 67 British victims of the terrorists attacks on Lower Manhattan of September 11, 2001. Its motto is "Reflect, Remember, Rebuild" and the garden celebrates the strong ties of friendship between the United Kingdom and the United States.
The garden, which is located at William and Pearl Streets, has very attractive serpentine benches and lush landscaping and has been completed in a much shorter time than American efforts at Ground Zero. Hanover Square was named in 1714 for King George I, Elector of Hanover.
The park has hand-carved stone from Scotland, plantings from Prince Charles's estate and iron bollards from London.
In April, 2004, the British Memorial Garden Trust announced that Anish Kapoor had won the competition for a sculpture monument at the garden.
The 19.5-foot-high sculpture will be carved from a massive block of pure black granite. It will sit at the southern end of the park where it will serve as a focal point for Remembrance Day and other observances for the British and Commonwealth community.
The details of the sculpture are described in a statement from Anish Kapoor:
"The proposed memorial is for an object roughly 6 meters high by 2.5 meters wide by 1.5 meters deep. It is a block of black granite into which a vertical chamber is carved of approximately 1 meter by 2.5 meters by 80 centimeters in depth. The inner chamber is polished to give a mirrored surface. The chamber reflects light so as to form a column, which hovers, ghost-like, in the void of the stone. This very physically monolithic object then appears to create within itself an ephemeral reflection akin to an eternal flame."
Born in Bombay in 1954, Anish Kapoor is among the most prominent figures in British sculpture. His award-winning work has been exhibited around the world since the 1970s when he first moved to London to study art at Hornsey College and the Chelsea School of Art Design. In 1990 Mr. Kapoor represented Great Britain at the Venice Biennale where he was awarded the Premio Duemil by an international jury. In 1991, he won the coveted Turner Prize. He was elected Royal Academician in 1999, and in 2003, HM Queen Elizabeth II named Anish Kapoor a Commander of the British Empire (CBE).
The Unity sculpture for the British Memorial Garden Trust will serve as the centerpiece of the British Memorial Garden at Hanover Square.
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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