Justice delayed: Work on Thurgood Marshall memorial started, quickly paused

Work began last month to restore the prominent memorial honoring Thurgood Marshall the first Black justice on the U S Supreme Court but stopped almost as rapidly as scaffolding was erected behind the bronze status of the history-making Maryland native Work on the memorial which was taken down for construction around Lawyers Mall and then when cracks were discovered in its columns was stopped after contractors identified problems with the reconstruction plan declared a spokesperson for the Department of General Services which is overseeing the project The contractor has mobilized and begun reconstruction efforts Brandon Stoneburg the DGS spokesperson commented in an email However during the initial phase issues were identified with the securing compounds specified and purchased for the columns As a conclusion the state and its organization made the decision to temporarily halt work We are actively working with our partners and material suppliers to resolve these issues Stoneburg did not elaborate on the issues The department did not make staff available for an interview Costs of the work were not without delay disclosed Once resolved and assuming favorable weather conditions construction could be completed within a month Stoneburg explained in his email Our goal is to ensure that Lawyers Mall is fully restored and ready to welcome advocates legislators and the population to its full expected he wrote The monument has had its share of difficulties in new years Designed by Maryland artist Toby Mendez the memorial was dedicated in The -foot bronze statue of Marshall stands as the focal point Mendez incorporated the facade of the Department of Legislative Services Building once the site of what was then the Maryland Court of Appeals where Marshall as an attorney argued the landmark Murray v Pearson event that opened the University of Maryland School of Law to Black students Between the building and Marshall stood six columns The placement gave the appearance of Marshall on the measures of a courthouse The memorial includes bronze statues seated on benches in front of Marshall On one bench a statue of Donald Gaines Murray the law learner represented by Marshall On another the figures of two children represented in the Brown v The Board of Learning of Topeka scenario Marshall was the lead attorney in the landmark Supreme Court episode cleared the way for desegregation of schools nationally by overturning the th century Plessy v Ferguson event which had established the separate but equal doctrine Atop the columns an entablature inscribed Equal Justice Under Law Critical dates in Marshall s career lie in a circle in the mall at Marshall s feet The memorial was disassembled and removed in to allow for work on utilities running under the plaza Particular pieces the columns and entablatures were stored according to Chris Kintzel director of the Maryland Commission on Artistic Property Oversight of the monument is complicated The commission is responsible for the statue of Marshall as well as the figures seated on the benches The columns entablature and other features fall under the purview of the Department of General Services It s not exactly like art hanging on a wall Kintzel announced The bronze statue of Marshall was moved temporarily to the entrance of the Robert C Murphy Court of Appeals Building The statue and memorial returned to Lawyers Mall in late and were rededicated in But the next year the columns and entablature had to be taken down after it was discovered they had been damaged The colonnade which serves as the backdrop to the Thurgood Marshall statue in Lawyers Mall was disassembled when concerns over certain cracks were deemed to be a likely safety jeopardy Stoneburg wrote While evaluating the disassembled columns to identify a likely cause for the cracks a decision was made not to reconstruct the monument while the adjacent Legislative Services Building was being constructed to prevent feasible damage from heavy equipment vibrations he wrote During this time additional maintenance updates to help preserve this essential landmark for years to come were also identified and are presently being implemented One of those changes involves improving the engravings of the court cases and crucial cases that are part of the paved area around the statue Chosen of those engravings have suffered from time weather and foot traffic They really requested to emphasize the engravings and his cases with a deeper cut trying to make it more legible Kintzel commented Over time it became hard to read selected of the lettering of the cases They began to fade over time With this new deeper cut the new methodology the lettering should remain legible for a much much much much longer time The cracks in the columns specific substantial were discovered at the same time workers were demolishing and replacing the adjacent Department of Legislative Services Building The exact cause of the damage to the columns is not clear But experts noted at the time that the monument was not designed to be disassembled and reassembled Although studies were conducted to determine the cause of the original structural failure the findings were not fully conclusive Stoneburg commented The State continues to work collaboratively with the original construction club to refine the reconstruction details and ensure long-term success Not all of the pieces of the reconstructed memorial will be original As part of the reconstruction the original columns deemed too damaged to reuse have been replaced Stoneburg wrote The new columns fabricated to match the original profile were designed as two-piece units instead of the original three-piece configuration However the original entablatures that sit atop each set of three columns have been preserved and will be reinstalled as part of the reconstruction Also new to the mall a modern Department of Legislative Services Building The new square-foot building was officially opened in January The expanded Lawyers Mall has definitely created a much greater access to the plaza it s more secure and when the columns and everything are back in place it will then help reframe the idea that here is a space where history took place and it will be better framed now that the new building is complete and the new bases and columns will be in place Kintzel revealed State executives worked with Mendez the artist to ensure his vision of the memorial remained They consulted with Tony on the new building so that it would still look proportional and look like it was originally intended Kintzel noted So it still has the idea of it being in the spot where where the old Court of Appeals was where Marshall would have been when he argued his landmark cases Source