The bridge opened to traffic in December 1909. In 1910, the firm Carrère and Hastings began drawing up plans for a grand entry to the bridge on the Manhattan side. Construction began that year, the plans were finalized in 1912, and the arch and colonnade were completed in 1915.
The entry was inspired by the Porte Saint-Denis in Paris (which in turn was inspired by the Arch of Titus in Rome). Carl Augustus Heber sculpted the pylons, and Charles Rumsey sculpted the “Buffalo Hunt” frieze.
John Marin was painting during an explosive time in New York. The city was expanding outward and upward at an unprecedented speed. The Museum of Modern Art, New York.
NEW YORK PRE-1907: Bogue Laundry Soap issued this promotional colorful bird’s-eye view of the Brooklyn Bridge. The vista takes in the Lower Manhattan buildings in the foreground and a portion of what was then the Manhattan entrance in the lower left. Along with that entrance structure are other buildings that no longer exist, such as the obelisk-like Tatham Shot Tower to the right of the bridge which was demolished in 1907. On the back advertising copy proclaims the soap “Shortens the Wash day and Makes Home Happy!” Read more: https://www.georgeglazer.com/m…/newyorkmaps/boguebridge.html
