War memorials

France: Oise-Aisne American Cemetery

Architect: Major George Gibbs jr.
Owners: American Battles Monument Commission
Location: Seringes-et-Nesles, France

The Oise-Aisne American Cemetery, like the other American cemeteries was laid out in 1922 – that is, before the creation of the American Battle Monuments Commission the following year – by Major George Gibbs jr, who had once worked for Frederick Law Olmsted’s firm, in consultation with members of the Commission for Fine Arts: Charles Moore, James Greenleaf and William Mitchell Kendall. The cemetery, with its regular rows of white marble crosses, contains 6,012 burials. At the far end, on axis, is the chapel and map-room, connecting by a curved colonnade. Built in 1926-30, this was designed by Ralph Adams Cram, the Bostonian Anglophile Gothicist, although this work is in a round-arched Romanesque style.

Gavin Stamp

American Battles Monument Commission