Harold Van Buren Magonigle

Harold Van Buren Magonigle (1867-1935) was an American architect who won the competition to design Kansas City’s Liberty Memorial — the 217-foot tower dedicated to the dead of World War I that remains one of the city’s defining landmarks. A New York memorial specialist who trained in the offices of the leading architects of his day, Magonigle was also responsible for the McKinley National Memorial in Ohio and two prominent monuments in New York City.

[!info] Cornerstone-adjacent entry Created out of the deep-dive on the Liberty Memorial. Citation-first; sourced to named references with links.

Life and training

Harold Van Buren Magonigle was born October 17, 1867, in Bergen Heights, New Jersey, and died August 29, 1935, in Vergennes, Vermont, at age 67.¹ He trained in the offices of several of the era’s leading architects — Calvert Vaux; Rotch & Tilden; Schickel and Ditmars; and McKim, Mead & White — before opening his own practice in 1903. Early in his career he won the Architectural League of New York’s Gold Medal (1889) and the Rotch Traveling Scholarship (1894) for study in Europe.¹

The Liberty Memorial

Magonigle’s best-known work is Kansas City’s Liberty Memorial. A national design competition opened in December 1920 drew eleven completed entries — among them designs by Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue and Paul Cret — and first place went, by unanimous vote, to Magonigle.² His winning rendering depicted the memorial at night: a veiled sphinx in the foreground, an inscribed wall behind, and “a soaring column from whose top white smoke twists against a cobalt sky” — the steam-and-light “Flame of Inspiration” that still crowns the 217-foot tower.²

Magonigle significantly underestimated the project’s cost, and his design had to be scaled back and simplified during the years of construction (the memorial’s site was dedicated in 1921 and the finished structure in 1926).² “ on the frequently-repeated claim that he resigned or fell out with the memorial’s overseers before completion — it could not be verified against retrieved sources, which document only the cost-driven redesign.

Other major works

Beyond Kansas City, Magonigle was a nationally active memorial and monument architect. His documented works include:¹

• The McKinley National Memorial (mausoleum) in Canton, Ohio, honoring assassinated President William McKinley
• The USS Maine Monument (Maine Monument) at Columbus Circle in New York City, with sculptor Attilio Piccirilli
• The Firemen’s Memorial on Riverside Drive in New York City, also with Piccirilli

His professional papers are held by the New York Public Library and Columbia University’s Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library.¹

Sources

Footnotes

1. Wikipedia — “Harold Van Buren Magonigle.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Van_Buren_Magonigle — Confirms: born Oct 17, 1867 (Bergen Heights, NJ), died Aug 29, 1935 (Vergennes, VT); training under Vaux, Rotch & Tilden, Schickel and Ditmars, and McKim, Mead & White; own practice from 1903; Gold Medal (1889) and Rotch Traveling Scholarship (1894); the McKinley National Memorial, USS Maine Monument, and Firemen’s Memorial; papers at NYPL and Columbia’s Avery Library. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

2. The Pendergast Years (Kansas City Public Library) — “Liberty Memorial: Remembering Then and Now.” https://pendergastkc.org/articles/liberty-memorial-remembering-then-and-now — Confirms: competition opened December 1920, eleven entries (incl. Goodhue and Cret), Magonigle’s unanimous win; the nighttime “Flame of Inspiration” rendering; his cost underestimate and the resulting scaling-back. ↩ ↩² ↩³