The Doughboy is a war memorial and neighborhood landmark in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Located at the Y-shaped intersection of Lawrenceville's two busiest commercial streets, Butler Street and Penn Avenue, the monument has become a symbol of the neighborhood and "probably the most well-known veterans monument in Pittsburgh".
The Doughboy statue was sculpted by Allen George Newman and dedicated on Memorial Day in 1921. It stands in a small triangular public space in front of the Pennsylvania National Bank Building called Doughboy Square.
In 1918, the Lawrenceville Board of Trade organized a carnival in Arsenal Park to raise money for the troops fighting in World War I. When the war ended before the money could be put to use, neighborhood leaders decided to spend it on a memorial instead. Newman's bronze Doughboy statue was unveiled on Memorial Day in 1921 with over 20,000 onlookers present; the Pittsburgh Gazette Times described the occasion as the "largest ceremonial event ever witnessed in Lawrenceville". Considering Lawrenceville’s current position in the city as a major nightlife hotspot, this must have been one…...huge…...party.
The memorial originally honored the residents of Pittsburgh's Sixth Ward (comprising Lower Lawrenceville, Polish Hill, and the upper Strip District) who served in World War I. In 1947, the statue was given a new marble and limestone base with bronze plaques listing the names of the 3,100 Sixth Ward residents who served in World War II, including the 53 who died in action. An additional plaque honoring veterans of the Korean War and Vietnam War was added to the railing around the memorial in 1984.
On the morning of Memorial Day, 2020, Fine Art Architectural Restoration received a call from the Manager of Public Art and Civic Design of the City of Pittsburgh. The Doughboy Monument had been horribly vandalized. The perpetrators sprayed red spray paint on the plaques all around the statue pedestal, referencing a nonsensical communist uprising in South America along with numerous hammer and sickles. In addition, the vandals splashed large patches of thick red latex paint on the plaques as well. The Manager apologized for disturbing us on a holiday. She was asking for suggestions to help Pittsburgh Department of Public Works staff with emergency graffiti removal. We quickly realized that it would be best if we came on-site and worked with DPW firsthand.
As holders of the Pittsburgh City Contract for Monuments and Sculpture since 2018, we understood our position as the most qualified firm in the region to assist DPW in an emergency intervention. There was basically no one else to turn to. Because we are frequently working on-site, our vehicle was already full of almost all the correct equipment and materials. Upon arrival, we determined that our goal for the day (Memorial Day) would be at the very least, to remove all the red paint……with the understanding that an additional cosmetic restoration would be needed. Everyone just wanted the paint gone for the holiday.
The biggest problem was the thick red latex paint. It was lodged in the raised letters on the plaque and there was concern that the damage was permanent. Pressure washing alone could not strip the paint, so a chemical stripper was applied on top of the paint, and it softened the latex and allowed the washer to blast it away. The red spray paint could be removed fairly easily with a chemical paint stripper on cotton jersey rags. There was just a lot of it: on every panel all around the statue pedestal. We saw that the cleaning did mar the existing lacquer on the plaques, so it was done very carefully overall, so as to disrupt the lacquer as little as possible, looking ahead to the eventual cosmetic restoration. After several hours, all the paint was removed and we still had a lovely cookout and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon. We donated the emergency intervention fee in-kind to express our gratitude for being selected as multi-year city monuments and sculpture contract holders.
In July of 2020, the City of Pittsburgh asked that we restore the plaques. Working with Covid-19 precautions, we set up a containment at the well-known intersection of Butler St and Penn Ave. Local residents would bring us refreshments while we were working in the heat. Areas of lacquer that were marred by the graffiti removal were further cleaned and feathered for re-lacquering. Extensive masking was done to protect the surrounding stonework and the plaques were spray-lacquered with tinted synthetic lacquer. Then the tinted lacquer was removed from the raised letters and relief decoration with a facing block wrapped in cotton jersey soaked in lacquer thinner.
We then gave the plaques several spray coats of clear lacquer to seal them. The plaques look new……...just as they did prior to the vandalism. We simply can’t express the pride we have in helping preserve these pieces. As a history buff, Pittsburgh does not disappoint for gritty, heroic and heartbreaking stories of everyday people. Lawrenceville is at the center of many of them and it brings us much delight to see it every time we pass through that colorful part of the city.
