The white marble monument was designed after a public competition won by architects Charles and Arthur Stoughton. Their design was known as the "Temple of Fame". The ornamental features were carved by Paul E. M. Duboy (1857–1907), who also was the architect of The Ansonia, an apartment building also on the Upper West Side. Inspired by Greek antiquity, the monument is based on the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates in Athens. The monument takes the form of a peripteral Corinthian temple raised on a high base, with a tall cylindrical rusticated cella, that carries a low conical roof like a lid, ringed by twelve Corinthian columns. Plinths at the entrance to the raised terrace are incised with the names of the New York volunteer regiments and the battles in which they served, as well as Union generals.