Robert Richard Randall Monument
Snug Harbor Cultural Center
This monumental bronze sculpture nestled in the northwestern corner of Snug Harbor Cultural Center depicts Robert Richard Randall (died 1801). Randall founded Sailors Snug Harbor, the home for retired seamen located along the north shore of Staten Island near the ferry terminal. The original statue of Randall, sculpted by master sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848–1907) was dedicated in 1884 in the northwestern corner of the site. The statue seen at the Sung Harbor Cultural Center is a cast of the original, which was moved to North Carolina in 1982.
Sailors Snug Harbor was founded in 1801 after Randall’s will specified that his Manhattan estate be used to start a marine hospital for “aged, decrepit and worn-out seamen.” The name Sailors Snug Harbor was suggested by Randall himself. At the time of Randall’s death, his estate, located north and east of modern-day Washington Square, was in a rural part of Manhattan. By the time a protracted challenge to his will was settled, the land around the estate had changed dramatically, with the area having been developed. Opting instead to maximize profits on the Manhattan property, Snug Harbor’s trustees relocated the proposed site to Staten Island, buying property around the harbor in 1831.
In the early 1970s Sung Harbor had become dilapidated and economically nonviable and the Trustees of Snug Harbor announced that they would move the home to North Carolina. The first of the parcels were sold to the City in 1972 and after the remaining sailors left for North Carolina it was feared that the statue of Randall would follow. Local officials decided to turn the site into an arts center. In 1976 the Snug Harbor Cultural Center opened. At that time the Trustees signed a long-term loan agreement to keep the statue in Staten Island. In 1982, however, the Trustees decided to move the original to North Carolina, and arranged for a cast to remain on site.
Other Saint-Gaudens works in New York City parks include the Admiral Farragut statue (1881) in Madison Square Park, and the Henry Maxwell (original cast 1903) medallion portrait in Brooklyn’s Grand Army Plaza, and the Sherman Monument (1903) in Manhattan’s Grand Army Plaza.
Wednesday, Dec 26, 2001
