{"nrhp_refnum":"90002223","name":"Verdi, Giuseppe, Monument","other_names":[],"category":"object","location":{"address":"Verdi Square Park","address_restricted":false,"city":"New York","county":"Manhattan","state":"NY","lat":40.779178012000045,"lon":-73.98150694599997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1990-10-04","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Art","European"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A monumental Neoclassical sculpture more than 25 feet tall in Verdi Square Park, a small triangular park at Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue on Manhattan's upper west side, installed in 1906 and designed by sculptor Pasquale Civiletti.","why_significant":"The monument is significant in art as a representative example of early twentieth-century public sculpture in New York City. It is also significant in ethnic heritage as a tangible expression of Italian nationalism and of the large Italian-American community in New York. It was funded largely through public donations organized by Carlo Barsotti.","narrative":"Rising more than 25 feet above a small triangular park at Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue on Manhattan's upper west side, this monument honors the composer Giuseppe Verdi. Sculptor Pasquale Civiletti, a Sicilian Neoclassicist, designed it in 1906 with a stepped granite base and a cylinder. Four white Carrara marble figures representing Aida, Otello, Falstaff and Leonora surround the cylinder, and a heroic statue of the composer crowns the top. It is Civiletti's only work in New York. Carlo Barsotti, editor of the Italian-language newspaper Il Progresso Italo Americano, began raising donations for the memorial in 1901 after Verdi's death. The cornerstone was laid in September 1906, and about 10,000 people attended the unveiling that October. The monument is valued as an example of Classical Revival public art and as a symbol of Italian-American pride and identity during a period of heavy immigration. It retains a high degree of integrity in its original park setting.","period_of_significance":"1906","architect_builder":"Pasquale Civiletti","architectural_style":"Late 19th and 20th century revivals (Neoclassical)","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Substantially intact to the period of significance; one of the four marble lyres has been removed. The surrounding park has relatively young plantings.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:46.107499-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/90002223.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90002223/9e095f4afe-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90002223/9e095f4afe-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Paul Klenk","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Giuseppe_Verdi_Monument.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Paul Klenk</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Giuseppe_Verdi_Monument.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75320033","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giuseppe_Verdi_Monument","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5565542"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/manhattan/verdi-giuseppe-monument-90002223/"}