John Ericsson at Battery Park

Artist: Jonathan Scott Hartley

Collection: Art in the Parks - NYC Department of Parks and Recreation

Date: Installed, 1903

This 1903 statue by Jonathan Scott Hartley (1845–1912) depicts the esteemed Swedish-American engineer and inventor John Ericsson (1803–1889), who helped to revolutionize military-maritime technology with his ironclad warship, the Monitor.

The Monitor was Ericsson’s response to the Confederacy’s intent in early 1861 to ironclad its warship, the Merrimac. Ericsson built the Monitor at the Continental Iron Works foundry in Greenpoint, Brooklyn; its engine and machinery were fabricated in Greenwich Village at the Delamater Iron Works. He died on March 8, 1889, in New York City. Less than four years after his death, the distinguished sculptor Johnathan Scott Hartley was commissioned by the state to create a larger-than-life bronze portrait of Ericsson, which was dedicated April 26, 1893 in Battery Park. The pedestal was designed by architect Frank Wallis.

Ten years later the sculptor, dissatisfied with his first version, crafted a modified statue, cast at the local Roman Bronze Works, and dedicated on August 1, 1903, a day after the centennial of Ericsson’s birth. In 1939 a monument to Ericsson and the Monitor was unveiled in McGolrick Park, Brooklyn. The sculpture in Battery Park depicts the bearded Ericsson holding a boat model in his hand. The pedestal features inset bronze bas-reliefs, which illustrate significant naval battles involving the Monitor and Princeton, as well as an array of Ericsson’s mechanical inventions. Over time the monument suffered extensive damage, the result of weathering, vandalism, and even a fire. In 1996 the sculpture was conserved by Parks’ monuments crew, and as part of overall improvements to Battery Park, the sculpture is slated to be moved from its present location to a more prominent site near a perimeter entrance.