LINCOLN PARK — The Chicago Park District's $1 million Alexander Hamilton statue is back home, even as many Lincoln Park residents insist it's still not in the right place.
The statue missed its shot to be back in action in time for the Chicago debut of Lin-Manuel Miranda's hit musical last fall, but it's back on its pedestal now near the three-way intersection of Diversey Parkway and Cannon and Stockton drives.
A $52,000 buff-up resulted in a blindingly bright new gilded finish for the statue of the American statesman.
One difference: The park district decided to have it put back in place facing north — its original orientation — even though "Alexander Hamilton" is chiseled into the south side of the base, the way the statue faced the last time it was reinstalled in 1993. The park district explained that it prefers to return things to their original state when given the opportunity.
But many residents interrupted the crew from the Conservation of Sculpture & Objects Studio during the tail end of the three-hour process to tell them it was facing the wrong way.
"Tell the park district they're wrong," said Pam Mikulec, who lives in a nearby highrise. "Everybody who walks through the park is going to see his butt."
Indeed, Hamilton now turns his back on the Chicago Downtown skyline to face off instead with the Goethe statue across Cannon Drive.
Even so, that's the way sculptor John Angel's 13-foot gilded bronze portrait of Hamilton faced when it was originally installed in 1952 at the base of a monolithic 78-foot-tall granite exedra designed by Samuel Marx. Structural problems — and criticism that it overwhelmed the statue — led to Marx's semi-circular section being demolished. The statue, originally valued at $1 million thanks to its gold-leaf coating, was reinstalled on a red granite base almost 25 years ago, yes, facing south into Lincoln Park.
In any case, the crew from the Conservation of Sculpture & Objects Studio who restored and replaced the 3,500-pound statue wasn't likely to turn it around any time soon.
The installation process took about three hours Thursday morning, as the statute, resting on its back on a trailer, had to be lifted erect and then put in place with a crane, with workers then fixing it by sealing bolts into the base.
Alexander Hamilton erect as statue returned to Lincoln Park. pic.twitter.com/mwpuyerE45
— Ted Cox (@tedcoxchicago) June 8, 2017
It was originally planned to be back on public display in time for last fall's "Hamilton" debut in Chicago, but the restoration took longer than expected.
The statue was originally commissioned by Kate Sturges Buckingham, who, yes, also donated Buckingham Fountain to the city. Long before Miranda's musical restored Hamilton as a hero among the Founding Fathers, Buckingham considered him "one of the least appreciated great Americans."
According to the park district, the restoration was paid for by the Kate S. Buckingham Fund of the Art Institute of Chicago — and the statute is now facing the right way, no matter what the base might suggest.
