Straus Park

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Isidor and Ida Straus

History

This text is part of Parks’ Historical Signs Project and can be found postedwithin the park.

Lovely and pleasant were they in their lives
And in their death they were not divided
II Samuel 1:23

This monument by sculptor Augustus Lukeman (1872–1935) and architect Evarts Tracy commemorates Isidor (1845–1912) and Ida (1849–1912) Straus, who died aboard the R.M.S. Titanic. The memorial fountain was dedicated on April 15, 1915.

Isidor Straus was born in Bavaria, Germany, in 1845. The Straus family immigrated to America in 1854 and settled in Georgia. After the Civil War, they relocated to New York where Lazarus Straus began L. Straus & Sons with his sons, Isidor and Nathan. By 1888, the brothers had advanced from operating a crockery concession at R.H. Macy & Co. to owning the company. In 1902, they opened the world’s largest department store, Macy’s at Herald Square. They also became partners in Abraham & Straus in 1893 (in operation until 1995 when Federated Department Stores discontinued the name). In 1871, Isidor married Ida Blun, who was from Worms, Germany. In addition to raising their six children, Ida joined her husband as a philanthropist with a special concern for health, education, and other public services.

The Strauses were aboard the Titanic on April 15, 1912, when it sank on its maiden voyage from England to America. The ship hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic and sank three hours later. More than 1,500 passengers and crew died in the disaster. The biblical quotation above is inscribed on the rear exedra of the Straus Monument, paying tribute to Ida’s decision to remain aboard with her husband rather than save herself by boarding a lifeboat with the women and children.

In 1912, the City named this park after the Strauses, who had lived in a frame house at 27-47 Broadway, near 105th Street. Public subscriptions of $20,000 were raised to commission this monument. The work consists of a granite curved exedra, a central bronze reclining female figure of Memory (for which the celebrated model Audrey Munson posed), and a reflecting pool. The monument was dedicated three years to the day after the Titanic sank. Augustus Lukeman also sculpted the World War I Memorial statuary in Prospect Park, Brooklyn.

From 1995 to 1997 Straus Park was renovated and expanded to the west, by the addition of 15 feet of the bed of West End Avenue. Improvements in the $800,000 capital project included the addition of benches, lighting, shrubs, fencing, and paving. As part of this extensive renovation, the monument was restored and the reflecting pool transformed into a flowerbed. The Straus family established a maintenance endowment for the monument. The Friends of Straus Park, a project of the West 106th Street Block Association, was formed to promote security, cleanliness, and programming in the park to preserve its important position in the neighborhood.

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Isidor and Ida Straus Details

Location: Broadway at 106th Street
Sculptor: Augustus Lukeman
Architect: Evarts Tracy
Description: Exedra and fountain pool with figure
Materials: Bronze, Deer Isle granite
Dimensions: H:6' W: 23' D: 47'
Dedicated: 1915
Foundry: Jno. Williams Inc.
Donor: Public subscription
Inscription: Bench inscription:
IN MEMORY OF ISIDOR AND IDA STRAUS / WHO WERE LOST AT SEA IN THE TITANIC DISASTER APRIL 15, 1912 / LOVELY AND PLEASANT WERE THEY IN THEIR LIVES AND IN / THEIR DEATH THEY WERE NOT DIVIDED. / II SAMUEL I-23 /

Bronze plaque:
ERECTED / BY VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTIONS / FROM MANY FELLOW CITIZENS / AND ACCEPTED FOR THE / CITY OF NEW YORK BY / MAYOR / JOHN PURROY MITCHEL / AND / CABOT WARD / COMMISSIONER OF PARKS / A.D. MCMXV /

Please note, the NAME field includes a primary designation as well as alternate namingsoften in common or popular usage. The DEDICATED field refers to the most recent dedication, most often, butnot necessarily the original dedication date. If the monument did not have a formal dedication, the yearlisted reflects the date of installation.

For more information, please contact Art & Antiquities at (212) 360-8163