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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 quickly 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, said 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, said in an email. “However, during the initial phase, issues were identified with the securing compounds specified and purchased for the columns. As a result, the state and its team 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 immediately disclosed.
“Once resolved, and assuming favorable weather conditions, construction could be completed within a month,” Stoneburg said in his email.
“Our goal is to ensure that Lawyers Mall is fully restored and ready to welcome advocates, legislators, and the public to its full potential,” he wrote.
The monument has had its share of difficulties in recent years.
Designed by Maryland artist Toby Mendez, the memorial was dedicated in 1996. The 8-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 case 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 steps 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 student represented by Marshall. On another, the figures of two children represented in the Brown v. The Board of Education of Topeka case. Marshall was the lead attorney in the landmark Supreme Court case cleared the way for desegregation of schools nationally by overturning the 19th century Plessy v. Ferguson case, which had established the “separate but equal” doctrine.
Atop the columns, an entablature inscribed “Equal Justice Under Law.” Important dates in Marshall’s career lie in a circle in the mall at Marshall’s feet.
The memorial was disassembled and removed in 2018 to allow for work on utilities running under the plaza.
Some 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 said
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 2020, and were rededicated in 2021. 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 potential safety risk,” Stoneburg wrote.
“While evaluating the disassembled columns to identify a potential cause for the cracks, a decision was made not to reconstruct the monument while the adjacent Legislative Services Building was being constructed to prevent potential damage from heavy equipment vibrations,” he wrote. “During this time, additional maintenance updates to help preserve this important landmark for years to come were also identified and are currently being implemented.”
One of those changes involves improving the engravings of the court cases and significant cases that are part of the paved area around the statue. Some of those engravings have suffered from time, weather, and foot traffic.
“They really wanted to emphasize the engravings and his cases with a deeper cut — trying to make it more legible,” Kintzel said. “Over time, it became hard to read some 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 — some significant — 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 said. “The State continues to work collaboratively with the original construction team 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 144,000 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 said.
State officials 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 said. “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.”
