Image: Four rejected designs for USS Maine Mast Memorial - Commission of Fine Arts 1915

Description: Four designs by unnamed architects for the proposed USS Maine Mast Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington County, Virginia, in the United States. The Maine exploded in Havana Harbor, Cuba, under mysterious circumstances in February 1898, precipitating the Spanish-American War. Congress approved the memorial in 1910, and required that the main mast of the vessel be erected as part of the memorial. The Maine was salvaged from September 1910 to March 1912. In 1912, the U.S. Department of War held an internal competition to design a memorial. Four sketches were turned over to the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) for its advice. The CFA rejected all four preliminary designs, and told the War Department that all four were of such poor quality that the Secretary of War would be better off choosing a designer of national stature. The Secretary of War (on the advice of the CFA again) chose architect Nathan C. Wyeth.
Title: Four rejected designs for USS Maine Mast Memorial - Commission of Fine Arts 1915
Credit: https://books.google.com/books?id=9gYxAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22Commission+of+Fine+Arts%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=YX2iUf7tBLfe4APt54DABg&ved=0CDsQ6AEwAjgo#v=onepage&q&f=false
Author: Commission of Fine Arts. Report of the Commission of Fine Arts for the Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 1915. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1915, Plate V, p. 24-25.
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No