Photo, Print, Drawing Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery & Memorial, Rue du General Pershing, Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, Departement de la Meuse (France), FR Drawings from Survey HALS US-2

Title

• Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery & Memorial, Rue du General Pershing, Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, Departement de la Meuse (France), FR

Names

• Historic American Landscapes Survey, creator
• York & Sawyer
• Ayres, William Louis
• Gibbs, George, Jr.
• Cret, Paul Philippe
• U.S. Department of War
• Greber, Jacques
• Lyall, Earl Harvey
• U.S. Department of War, Office of the Quartermaster General, Graves Registration Service
• Robin, Ernest
• Noyer, Maurice
• Adam & Co.
• Bottiau, Alfred-Alphonse
• Certoux, Charles
• Fevre & Co.
• Ste. Goussez
• Ste. Guinet & Co.
• H. Rouard
• Ste. Routiere Colas
• Susse Freres
• John E. Lingo & Sons
• Roman Bronze Works
• U.S. Commission of Fine Arts (CFA)
• Moore, Charles
• Hayes, Ralph
• Pierce, Charles C.
• Gibbs, George, Jr.
• Green, H. L.
• Robin, Ernest
• Price, Xenophon H.
• Pershing, John J. "Black Jack"
• North, Thomas
• Lyall, Earl Harvey
• Moginier, Charles L.
• Simpson, Eric D.
• Mott, T. Bentley
• U.S. Department of War, Observers Board
• Harbeson, John
• Office of the Veterans' Secretary General, Military Graves Service (France)
• Davidson, Lisa Pfueller, historian
• Stevens, Christopher M., project manager
• Lockett, Dana, field team
• McNatt, Jason W., delineator
• Pierce, Ryan, delineator
• De Sousa, Daniel, delineator
• Canfield, Charles D., delineator
• American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC), sponsor
• McPartland, Mary, transmitter

Created / Published

• Documentation compiled after 2000

Headings

• -  war (World War I)
• -  Gothic Revival architectural elements
• -  allées
• -  fountains
• -  Beaux-Arts architectural elements
• -  graves
• -  Art Moderne architectural elements
• -  commemorative landscapes
• -  commemoration
• -  cemeteries
• -  national cemeteries
• -  monuments & memorials
• -  France--Departement De La Meuse (France)--Romagne-Sous-Montfaucon

Latitude / Longitude

• 49.334303,5.093455

Notes

• -  Significance: Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery & Memorial is one of eight overseas World War I cemeteries redesigned and administered by the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC), a federal agency created in 1923. Meuse-Argonne, the largest ABMC cemetery in Europe with over 14,200 graves, was part a larger effort in the aftermath of World War I to create lasting and impressive memorials to the American war effort in England, Belgium, and France. The practical necessity of burying American soldiers who died during the conflict was first handled by the War Department through the Office of the Quartermaster General's Graves Registration Service (GRS). GRS landscape architect George Gibbs, Jr. had already established the basic form of Meuse-Argonne (or Romagne) Cemetery, with eight sections of graves arranged up a hillside, a local road running through a valley with a circular fountain, and the staff quarters and visitor building on the opposite hillside. The buildings were constructed by the War Department in 1923-24. The entrance to the cemetery property at each end of the road was marked by a pair of simple stone pylons with bas relief eagles. ABMC redesigned the existing War Department cemeteries, adding memorial chapels and other features. The agency also constructed a series of monuments starting in the mid-1920s, and continuing into the 1930s. It hired prominent French-born American architect Paul P. Cret as its consulting architect in 1925. Cret guided every aspect of the ABMC commemoration program from finalizing locations and selecting architects to inspecting construction and making maintenance recommendations. The New York firm of York & Sawyer, with principal architect William Louis Ayres, was given the commission for designing the Chapel, new entrance pylons, and a revised site plan for Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery. Jacques Gréber served as local architect for the project and provided a revised planting plan. Construction took place in 1929-32, starting with the Chapel and then turning to landscape improvements. York & Sawyer placed a Romanesque Revival Chapel at the crest of the hill above the burial sections. The Chapel featured a front gable center pavilion and long loggias on either side. The road area was enhanced with more elaborate entrance pylons, a fountain at the base of the hill below the Visitor Building, and additional stone terraces and steps. The circular fountain was retained, with the local road (D123) now split by a wide grassy median and lined by an allée of trees through the cemetery property. Allées of clipped linden trees were placed along the mall leading up the hill to the chapel, as well as the outer edges of the eight grave areas. York & Sawyer’s architecture and landscape for Meuse-Argonne are in keeping with the commemorative program sponsored by ABMC and guided by Cret. They are characteristic of a Beaux Arts approach seen in some of the best civic architecture of the 1920s and 30s.
• -  Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N153, N154
• -  Survey number: HALS US-2
• -  Building/structure dates: 1918-1919 Initial Construction
• -  Building/structure dates: 1927-1932 Subsequent Work
• -  Building/structure dates: 1920-1924 Subsequent Work
• -  Building/structure dates: 2015-2016 Subsequent Work

Medium

• Measured Drawing(s): 19
• Data Page(s): 91

Call Number/Physical Location

• HALS US-2

Source Collection

• Historic American Landscapes Survey (Library of Congress)

Repository

• Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

Control Number

• us0005

Rights Advisory

• No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. https://aj.sunback.homes/rr/print/res/114_habs.html

Online Format

• image
• pdf