USA: Lee Lawrie's Striking - Yet Modest - World War I Memorial at St. Thomas Church in Manhattan

New York, NY. St. Thomas Church, World War I Memorial. Lee Lawrie, sculptor. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2017.

New York, NY. St. Thomas Church, World War I Memorial. Lee Lawrie, sculptor. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2017.

USA: Lee Lawrie's Striking - Yet Modest - World War I Memorial at St. Thomas Church in Manhattan

by Samuel D. Gruber

(click photos for larger images)

Because we are in the midst of commemorating the 100th anniversary of the American entry into the First World War, I'm especially attentive to monuments and memorials to those who served and those who died. 

Over the next few months I'll be posting pictures and short notes about monuments I encounter. Here are pictures from a too little known memorial inside St. Thomas Church at 53rd Street and Fifth Ave. and Manhattan.  The great church, was designed by Ralph Adams Cram and Bertram Goodhue in 1906 but not consecrated until 1916. Funds initially raised for the construction were instead donated to aid victims of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The exterior of the church is well known as it anchors a block now mostly taken up by the various Museum of Modern Art expansions. 

Next time you go to MOMA and are totally stressed out by the crowds stop in the church for some rest, repose and reflection - and look to your left as you enter at this somber memorial designed by the great architectural sculptor Lee Lawrie, and added after the war. Lawrie also worked with Goodhue on the great reredos which dominates the church (but now is partially obscured by scaffolding as a new organ is built).

New York, NY. St. Thomas Church, World War I Memorial. Lee Lawrie, sculptor. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2017.

New York, NY. St. Thomas Church, World War I Memorial. Lee Lawrie, sculptor. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2017.

The memorial consists of an upper wall painting and low-relief of the Archangel Michael driving his lance into a dragon, which represents Satan, evil, and war. Below this, on a lintel  above a door under the tower is a dynamically charged high relief sculpture of American soldiers heading to war, leaving the St. Thomas Church and heading to the Cathedral of Rheims. The composition is an undated version of an ancient motif of armies on the march. On either side of the door are names of parishioners who served in the war. Those painted in gold at the top are the soldiers who died. Colored shields on the stone represent the branches of the armed services. The colored shields on the doors represent the Allied Nations.

New York, NY. St. Thomas Church, World War I Memorial. Lee Lawrie, sculptor. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2017.

New York, NY. St. Thomas Church, World War I Memorial. Lee Lawrie, sculptor. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2017.

New York, NY. St. Thomas Church, World War I Memorial. Lee Lawrie, sculptor. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2017.

President Woodrow Wilson went before a joint session of Congress to request a declaration of war against Germany on April 2, 1917. On April 4, 1917, the U.S. Senate voted in support of the measure. In December war was also  declared on Austria-Hungary.