HomeMy WebLinkAbout1987 Report on the proposed USS Lexington memorial.pdf REPORT ON THE PROPOSED USS LEXINGTON MEMORIAL - Walter Pierce, 11/20/87
The Design Advisory Committee,recently reactivated to provide design review and
advice to the Board of Selectmen, has been asked as one of its first tasks, to
review and comment on the proposed Memorial to the USS Lexington(s) sponsored
by the Lions Club
To guide them in the design for the Memorial, the Lions have established a set
of design guidelines and site selection criteria, copies of which were passed
along to the DAC Among other criteria, the Lions' guidelines stress that
"the Memorial should be part of its surroundings and blend into the character
of its location" The DAC is in general agreement with these goals
With the guidelines, the Lions have also submitted a detailed design which
proposes to locate the memorial at the intersection of 2 paths in front of
the Visitors Center and facing Massachusetts Ave Members of the DAC have
reviewed the proposal and visited the site several times, sometimes with
members of the Board of Selectmen and the Lions
There are two aspects of this Memorial which concern the Committee -
the design of the Memorial itself and its location at the Visitors Center
site While the two are interdependent, it is the Memorial's location which
is of first importance and the one on which the Committee focused.
In considering the Memorial's location, it is important to bear in mind the
qualities of Lexington Common and its environs which make it such a unique
place. While memorializing one of the most significant moments in American
history, it does so in a very modest and low-keyed way; the various memorials
take their place in the setting unobtrusively and the atmosphere of a New
England town green with its backdrop of 18th and 19th century houses is
beautifully preserved Even the Visitors Center, a new structure informally
sited at the back of the small meadow next to the Buckman Tavern, takes its
place easily in this setting, the whole composition adding to the pastoral
feel of the place and providing a nice recall of the farm community that
Lexington once was
It is the unanimous opinion of the DAC that the proposed placement of the
USS Lexington Memorial in the midst of this "meadow" interrupts this space
and upsets the composition Not only does the location seem inappropriate
to the ambience of Lexington's public ground, but placed at the intersection
of the 2 paths leading to the Visitors Center, prevents the Memorial from
having a locus particularly its own. The designers seem to be aware of this
problem by their then feeling compelled to enclose the Memorial with an array
of imported plantings, in themselves a feature not found at the other Memorial
sites
After careful consideration of alternatives and with due regard for the con-
)
cerns of the Memorial's sponsors, the DAC feel5that a much more appropriate
site would be in the area to the left of the Visitors Center and off the path
leading from the Center to Bedford St