Grand Army Plaza

An oval traffic and park square at the main entrance to Prospect Park in Brooklyn, laid out by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux in the 1860s as a monumental gateway. Its centerpiece is the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch of 1892, a Beaux-Arts triumphal arch honoring the Grand Army of the Republic — the Union veterans organization of the Civil War. The bronze quadriga and soldier groups at the base are by Frederick MacMonnies, one of the leading American Beaux-Arts sculptors. The 1941 main building of the Brooklyn Public Library with its golden entrance facade and the Brooklyn Museum stand nearby. On Saturdays one of the citys richest greenmarkets draws buyers from across Brooklyn; otherwise the plaza is a runners and skaters in-between space leading into the park. A spiral staircase inside the arch can be climbed on a few open weekends each year.