Harlem has a copy of a Parisian sculpture - the sculpture at Morningside and 114th Street of Lafayette shaking Washington’s hand.

The sculpture is in a triangle of land, bounded byManhattan Avenue, 114th Street, and Morningside Avenue - all of which creates Lafayette “Square”.

The City of New York acquired this property by condemnation on July 28, 1870 along with the land used to build Morningside Park. The monument (entitled “Lafayette and Washington”) was created by the French sculptor Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi (1834-1904). The bronze statue, depicts both figures on a marble pedestal, clothed in colonial uniforms, and shaking hands with the flags of their respective countries behind them.

Famed publisher, Joseph Pulitzer (1847-1911) commissioned the sculpture based on the artist’s previous major accomplishment: the Statue of Liberty in the New York Harbor. Bartholdi completed the original “Lafayette and Washington,” which was dedicated in Paris in 1895. At the turn of the century, department store owner Charles Broadway Rouss bequeathed this replica to the residents of Morningside Heights.

As Seen In Harlem