The Washington Square Arch was named for the first U.S. President George Washington. It was originally built in wood for the Centennial of Washington’s inauguration in 1889. It was then moved half a block west to align with Fifth Avenue, commissioned in marble as a permanent installation, completed in its current location by 1892.
The Arch was designed by noted period architect Stanford White (1853-1906).
Washington at War and Washington at Peace
At its pedestal, the monument features George Washington in two poses: Washington At War on the East side and Washington At Peace on the West.
In her book, “It Happened on Washington Square,” Emily Kies Folpe wrote of the Washington At War statue, that sculptor, Herman A. Mac Neil, wanted the statue “to appear alert and intent, as if watching the maneuvers of his army.” Looking on are the figures of Fame and Valor.
Washington At Peace by A. Stirling Calder features Wisdom and Justice behind him. Wisdom stands there as “the modern Athena,” the Greek goddess of wisdom. Folpe writes, “Justice, draped and crowned, holding a balanced set of scales with one hand and an open book in the other. The pages of the book are inscribed with the words ‘Exitus acta probat.’ ”
Exitus acta probat, Latin, is taken from the George Washington Family Coat of Arms. I’ve come across various ways of interpreting it, all similar but slight variations. The basic translation is: the outcome justifies the deed.
When this post first appeared in 2008 in a since edited version, a commenter named Hugh wrote in clarifying:
The outcome justifying the deed that Washington was referring to was the Revolutionary war. No one wanted war then, not only was it near suicide for all who opposed the English, but also, war causes a lot of death which is also something that he didn’t want, however, if the end result was freedom and liberty, then a horrible deed such as war is in fact justified. It shows that Washington believed that unless the outcome is justified, then the deed should not be done.
Stanford White’s “outcome” was a little bit jarring. He was shot on the roof of the Madison Square Garden building, the second incarnation of the building (no longer there) which he also designed, by the husband of an ex-lover.
Originally published April 3, 2008; edited version.