Flower Statue Preservation Project on a Roll

Watertown, New York, is home to the Roswell Pettibone Flower Monument, a sculpture by Augustus Saint-Gaudens representing the only native Northern New Yorker to have been elected governor of the state. After receiving an SOS! Assessment Award in early 2002, the community is raising funds for conservation and a rededication to coincide with the statue’s 100th birthday in September. As of July, they have $95,000 of the 120,000 needed to fund the project. The fund-raising drive is led by Rande S. Richardson, who applied for the assessment award. The city, which owns the statue, does not have room in its budget for the conservation treatment, but Mr. Richardson hopes to raise enough money for the treatment, a rededication, and a maintenance endowment.

Roswell P. Flower died in 1899, and a few months later two officers of the New York Air Brake Corporation formed a committee to raise funds for a memorial. Both men contributed $500 to the fund, while the Watertown Daily Times initiated a subscription campaign. By the end of May 1900, the committee had contracted with Augustus Saint-Gaudens for the sculpture, paying $25,000. The monument was dedicated on September 1, 1902.

The sculpture has apparently had previous conservation treatments, including overly aggressive acid and sandblasting. Corrosion and pitting are evident on the bronze surface, and the granite pedestal is heavily soiled and streaked. Two eagles, which rested on pedestals beside the bronze sculpture, were removed in 1950 due to traffic concerns and were subsequently lost. Mr. Richardson hopes replicas of the eagles can be added to the monument in a slightly different position. “Certainly, from a historical preservation aspect, returning the statue to its original condition, which includes the eagles, is what I’d like to see,” he said in an interview with the Watertown Daily Times.

For more information, visit www.publicsquare.com/rpfstatue.

Photo courtesy Conservation Solutions, Inc.

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