Arlington Memorial Bridge - Washington, DC - Stone Bridges on Waymarking.com

County of bridge: One side Arlington County, VA; other side: Washington DC
Location: Arlington Memorial Bridge, from Lincoln Memorial to Arlington National Cemetery

"The Arlington Memorial Bridge spans the Potomac River on the axis between the Lincoln Memorial in Washington and Arlington House in Virginia, joining the Lincoln Memorial Circle and Columbia plaza on Columbia Island (Lady Bird Johnson Park). The low, neoclassical bridge is 2,163 feet long and 90 feet between balustrades, carrying a 60- foot-wide roadway and 15-foot sidewalks. Nine broad arches cross the river; roadways pass through additional segmental-arched openings at either end. Except for the central bascule draw span, the Bridge is of reinforced concrete construction'faced with dressed North Carolina granite ashlar. The draw span is of the double leaf, underneath counterweight type and is faced with pressed ornamental molybdenum steel to blend with the masonry spans. Once one of the longest (216 feet), heaviest (3000 tons), and fastest (one minute), such draw spans in the world, it is now sealed and inoperative.

The piers between and supporting the arches are from 31 to 42 feet thick and rest on bedrock some 35 feet below water. Except for those on either riverbank which display unadorned square panels, they are ornamented with bas relief eagles in discs 12 feet in diameter. The discs are flanked by fasces with axe blades projecting at the top. These details were-designed by sculptor Carl Paul Jennewein. The masonry arches spanning the river are capped by six-foot-tall bison keystones sculpted by Alexander Phimister-Proctor. Granite balustrades with recessed benches atop each pier delineated the upper edges of the bridge; the benches are set between granite blocks ornamented with Greek key banding. Specially designed lampposts are spaced along the curbs of the roadway.

"The southern terminus of the, Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway enters the Lincoln Memorial circle on the northwest symmetrically with Memorial Bridge on the southwest. It was designed and constructed with the bridge and matches it in architectural treatment. The granite-faced, balustraded river wall extends northwestward along the riverbank to terminate in an exedra at the western end of Constitution Avenue. (This Constitution Avenue terminus was cut off from the rest of the avenue by the later construction of the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge and its approaches.) Directly west of the Lincoln Memorial in the angle between the bridge and the parkway terminus is the Watergate, a broad flight of steps curved in an arc concentric with the Lincoln Memorial Circle, leading from the circle down to a grass strip and low granite wall at the river's edge. The riverside roadway passing beneath the end of the bridge breaks the flight of steps near its lower end and passes through a matching opening beneath the parkway terminus.

"Flanking the eastern ends of the bridge and the parkway are two pairs of monumental neoclassical equestrian sculpture on identical pedestals. "The Arts of War" by Leo Friedlander stand at the end of the bridge. In "Valor" on the left (looking from the Lincoln Memorial), the male equestrian is accompanied by a female striding forward with a shield; in "Sacrifice" on the right, a standing female symbolizing the 3 earth looks up to the rider Mars. "The Arts of Peace by James Earle Fraser flank the end of the parkway. "Music and Harvest" on the left consists of a winged horse, Pegasus, between a &ale figure with a bundle of wheat and a sickle and a woman with a harp. In "Aspiration and Literature" on the right, another Pegasus is flanked by figures holding a book and a bow. The statues, approximately 17 feet tall atop their granite pedestals, are of gilded bronze. The pedestals each bear 36 gilded bronze stars representing the stakes of the Union at the end of the Civil War. The sculptors were commissioned in 1925 and their designs approved in 1933, but the statues were not erected until 1951 after they were cast and gilded by Italy as a gift to the United States. The gilding was restored in 1971." ~ NRHP Nomination Form