Landscape Information
Located at the southeast corner of Central Park at 59th Street and Fifth Avenue, the City Beautiful-era design of the plaza was completed in 1916. Conceived in commemoration of the Union Army in the Civil War, the space takes its name from the Grand Army of the Potomac. Bisected by Central Park South and serving as a gateway entrance to the park, the split design was inspired by the Place de la Concorde in Paris.
Moving south to north, the plaza section in the foreground of the Plaza Hotel includes as its central feature the Pulitzer Fountain, Abundance, by sculptor Karl Bitter and architect Thomas Hastings. Designed in the Italian Renaissance tradition, the 22-foot-high, tiered limestone fountain includes sculptural carvings by Orazio Piccirilli. Atop the highest basin is Pomona, the Roman goddess of orchards.
In the companion plaza to the north, cut into a corner of Central Park, and on access with Pomona, is the gilded bronze equestrian statue of General Sherman by Augustus Saint Gaudens. Immediately behind this statue is the Scholars Gate entrance to the park. The two plaza spaces are unified with two mirror image, crescent-shaped, tree bosquets, and flagstone paving, stone backless benches, and lawn panels with exuberant seasonal display of color.
