A man, most likely a lamplighter, pulls a sled loaded with containers of kerosene along with his ladder at center while another uses a shovel at left to clear fresh snow from walkways at Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn, New York. The backdrop is the grand American Civil War memorial Soldiers and Sailors Arch, designed by architect John Duncan (who did Grant’s Tomb) dedicated in 1892. The architectural firm of McKim, Mead and White was responsible for formalizing this entrance of the Plaza to adjoining Prospect Park shortly after the dedication. As for the bronze figures adorning the arch, they were added later beginning in 1898 by American sculptor Frederick William MacMonnies. (1863-1937)  MacMonnies :

…created the Quadriga (1898) at the top of the arch, the sculptural group The Army: Genius of Patriotism Urging American Soldiers On To Victory (1900) on the left-facing pier, and The Navy: American Sailors At Sea Urged On By the Genius of Patriotism group (1901) on the right-facing pier. Possessing great emotional depth and symbolic power, the sculptural groups are also distinguished by MacMonnies’ attention to realistic details of costume and weaponry. The two fine bronze equestrian reliefs of Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses Simpson Grant (both 1901) inserted into the interior walls at the base of the arch are by crafted by Thomas Eakins and William O’Donovan (Eakins modeled the horses while O’Donovan crafted the figures.)  (1.)

This photograph, with title supplied by this archive, is the work of an Unknown Brooklyn amateur photographer whose surviving work was discovered in a trunk in the American South. Background can be found at link on Associated Blog Posts with this page.

print details recto: several faint and slight circular water marks scattered and impacting surface emulsion of printed image margins, along with one mark within printed image located at right of lamp post to right of arch.

1. Soldiers and Sailors Arch, Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn: from: NYC Parks online resource accessed December, 2015. In 1926, Prospect Park Plaza was renamed the Grand Army Plaza, commemorating the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Grand Army of the Republic, (GAR) a fraternal organization made up of Union Army veterans who fought in the American Civil War.