Albert Pike Memorial
The Albert Pike Memorial is a public artwork in Washington, D.C., erected in 1901, and partially demolished in 2020 by protestors responding to the murder of George Floyd. It honors Albert Pike (1809–1891), a senior officer of the Confederate States Army as well as a poet, lawyer, and influential figure in the Scottish Rite of freemasonry. The memorial—which now only includes the base and Goddess of Masonry sculpture—sits near the corner of 3rd and D Streets NW in the Judiciary Square neighborhood. The memorial's two bronze figures were sculpted by Gaetano Trentanove, the Italian-American sculptor of another Washington, D.C., sculptural landmark, the Daniel Webster Memorial. The dedication ceremony in 1901 was attended by thousands of Masons who marched in a celebratory parade.
Albert Pike Memorial in 2008 | |
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Albert Pike Memorial | |
U.S. National Register of Historic Places | |
| Part of | Civil War Monuments in Washington, D.C. |
|---|---|
| NRHP reference No. | 78000257 |
| Added to NRHP | September 20, 1978 |
| Location | 3rd and D Streets NW, Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Designer | Gaetano Trentanove |
| Material | bronze (sculpture) granite (base) |
| Height | 28 feet (8.5 m) (sculpture and base) |
| Opening date | October 23, 1901 |
| Dedicated to | Albert Pike |
| Dismantled date | June 19, 2020 |
The memorial is one of 18 Civil War monuments in Washington, D.C., which were collectively listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. The memorial is owned and maintained by the National Park Service, a federal agency of the Interior Department. The Pike statue was the only outdoor sculpture in Washington, D.C., honoring a Confederate general. Though Pike was depicted as a Mason, not a soldier, the memorial stirred controversy for decades.