Civil War Soldiers Monument

The Civil War Soldiers Monument is currently located at the Los Angeles National Cemetery at 950 South Sepulveda Boulevard. The cast zinc monument was first erected near the Los Angeles Southern Pacific Railway Station in 1896 and was later moved twice. Its current location is in the center of the cemetery lawn section bordered by Constitution Avenue and Pergola Loop.

The main condition concerns were cracking of the legs, missing buttons and bayonet, and surface coatings. ARG Conservation Services was contracted to treat the monument in accordance with the current conservation standards. Treatment objectives, as requested by the Department of Veterans Affairs, National Cemetery Administration (NCA), were to remove the mortar inside the legs, provide an adequate armature, repair the cracks in the legs, replace the missing bayonet and buttons, and coat the zinc with an industrial coating system to mimic a brown patinated bronze statue. The coating system was selected by the client in consultation with recent research on American zinc sculpture at the Smithsonian Museum Conservation Center. The conservation treatment served to stabilize the monument and provide a protective coating in keeping with an aesthetic based on historic research.