Roosevelt island / Memorial
1960 — 1967
“Theodore Roosevelt island was officially dedicated on 4 July 1958 as part of the centennial celebration of Roosevelt's birth. Originally, the event was to have featured the unveiling of a monumental memorial honoring the former president. Although delayed, the project moved forward, and by 1960 the design of architect Eric Gugler and sculptor Paul Manship, a bronze armillary sphere set within a square plaza, was submitted for congressional approval. Following widespread public condemnation led by Roosevelt's daughter Alice Roosevelt Longworth, the pair redesigned the memorial. As constructed, the Theodore Roosevelt memorial is a large paved plaza featuring a bronze statue of Roosevelt, inscribed monoliths, fountains, boxwood gardens, willow trees, and a water-filled moat. due to construction of the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Bridge, the memorial site was moved from the southern end of the island's central plateau to a pre-existing clearing to the northwest. president Lyndon Banes Johnson dedicated the memorial on 27 October 1967 Roosevelt's 109th birthday.” — Anne E. Kidd, HABS