Boston Monuments: Coconut Grove Memorial

Coconut Grove Memorial

Artist Unknown

LOCATION:

17 Piedmont Street  

Bay Village

Plaque

1993

MEDIUM:

Bronze

On November 28, 1942, a fire destroyed the Cocoanut Grove night club. More than 490 people were killed. The fire’s cause was never definitely determined, but the club’s flammable decorations certainly contributed to its ferocity. Revolving doors that soon became jammed and emergency exits that were illegally blocked and locked additionally contributed to the large loss of life. The plaque commemorates the dead and notes that, as a result of the tragedy, there were major changes in fire codes and in the treatment of burn victims not only in Boston, but across the country. The plaque, with a bas-relief image of the Cocoanut Grove’s floor plan, was set in the sidewalk near 17 Piedmont Street—the night club’s site—by the Bay Village Association in 1993.

"Boston Bronze and Stone Speak To Us" intends to add this Boston Monument to our next edition of our book.

What people are says about Boston Bronze and Stone Speak To Us

What people are saying about Boston Bronze and Stone Speak To Us

Boston Monuments Rule!

Thanks so much Joe.  I think I am probably going to order directly from you and have you ship them out.  Will be in Boston a number of times in the coming weeks but mainly in the Longwood and Copley areas – not sure if I will have the time to go over to the North End – at least not until December 21^st!  Will order directly from your website.  This is an absolutely wonderful book – I have always hoped that someone would put together a definitive book on the beautiful sculptures around Boston.  Have spent a good deal of my life in and out of the city and as a child I used to walk with my parents and grandmother/aunt around the city admiring the sculptures – so very few of which we actually knew the story of .. so very happy that you took the time, and had the interest, to produce this wonderful book!  Thank you!

from Annie Bixford, Rhode Island

Above Joe and Mentor sculptor Nancy Schon , creator of Boston Public Garden's "Make Way For Ducklings"

Happy Birthday Boston Massacre Monument 124 Years Old

The birthday of Robert Kraus's monument commemerating the March 5, 1770 shootings of British subjects in Boston.
Boston Massacre Monument Nov 14, 1888 sculptured by a Prussian German artist on Boston Common /Lafayette Mall Tremont Street,  Robert Kraus (1850-1902), Sculptor Bronze / Stone




Freedom is symbolically victorious, cast in this bronze sculpture by Kraus.

This very dramatic Freedom, depicted with the flag, a broken chain, an American eagle, and a trod-upon British crown, are positioned before a column with the names of the five Bostonians killed by British soldiers in the 1770 encounter.

 The high relief bronze plaque depicting the massacre features an extended hand which visitors love to shake, keeping it polished. Crispus Attucks, famed as the first black to give his life for this nation, lies in the foreground. His shoe also protrudes from the relief and visitors keep that polished as well.