{"nrhp_refnum":"72000823","name":"Rainey Memorial Gates","other_names":[],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"New York Zoological Park","address_restricted":false,"city":"New York","county":"The Bronx","state":"NY","lat":40.85514292900007,"lon":-73.87736366599995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1972-03-16","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Landscape Architecture","Art"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A set of monumental, free-standing sculptured bronze gates with flanking screens and granite gatekeepers' lodges at the entrance of the New York Zoological Park (Bronx Zoo) in Bronx Park, the Bronx, New York. Sculptor Paul Manship designed them, and they were dedicated in June 1934.","why_significant":"The gates are a major work by the noted American sculptor Paul Manship, done in a naturalistic style of the kind admired in the 1920s and influenced by the French Exposition des Arts Decoratifs. They serve as a transition between the concrete highway and the natural forms of the park. They were given as a memorial to big game hunter Paul Rainey, a patron of the zoo.","narrative":"Sculpted bronze gates mark an entrance to the New York Zoological Park in Bronx Park, the Bronx. Paul Manship began designing them in 1926 and spent five years on the work, expanding the plan from wrought iron to full bronze sculpture. The casting took two years and was done in Belgium. Two gates are separated by a central post modeled as a tropical tree, topped by a seated lion framed by spiky leaves. The arches show stylized animals and plants, representing animals then in the zoo. Low bronze screens on marble bases link the gates to granite gatekeepers' lodges roofed with twenty-six-ton granite slabs. Manship modeled the animals in profile so the design reads well from both sides. Grace Rainey Rogers gave the gates as a memorial to her brother Paul Rainey, a big game hunter who supported the zoo and whose expeditions brought it polar bears, walrus and musk oxen. They were dedicated in June 1934 and are considered an early example of 1920s decorative art.","period_of_significance":"20th Century","architect_builder":"Paul Manship (sculptor); casting done in Belgium","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as in excellent condition, unaltered, on its original site, publicly owned and in use as part of a park.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:38.834269-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/72000823.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72000823/eac0841c1d-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72000823/eac0841c1d-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 2.0","author":"Jules Antonio from Bronx, NY, USA","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rainey_Memorial_Gate_(4372257682).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jules Antonio from Bronx, NY, USA</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rainey_Memorial_Gate_(4372257682).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75316509","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainey_Memorial_Gates","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7284860"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/the-bronx/rainey-memorial-gates-72000823/"}