 Grafly was a founder of the National Sculpture Society and longtime educator at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts who was best known for his portrait busts . Although Grafly was at the peak of his career , the CGA was hesitant in approving him to design the sculpture because his symbolic works has been criticized for being incomprehensible . The CFA finally agreed to consider Grafly and following several months of negotiations and changes , a preliminary sculpture design was approved in August 1918 . Grafly received $ 85 @,@ 000 for his commission . Several years of bickering about the final design and location of the memorial passed until March 28 , 1922 , when an official groundbreaking ceremony took place . The chosen site was near 3rd Street NW in Union Square , a public park on Capitol Hill , and close to the large Ulysses S. Grant Memorial . Before the memorial was installed , the last of the old Botanic Garden greenhouses were demolished and the Bartholdi Fountain was moved to make way . The architects chosen to design the memorial were Grant Simon and Edward P. Simon of Philadelphia . Piccirilli Brothers carved the memorial and the project contractor was the George A. Fuller Company . The total cost of the memorial and its installation was $ 400 @,@ 000 . 
