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Richard Sharp Smith's design for the Vance Monument was based on the Washington Monument. It was a 66-foot tall (20 m) graduated obelisk built from brick and covered with granite blocks. The granite blocks were one foot (30 cm) thick and from two to three feet (60 to 90 cm) deep, and were set with LaForge mortar. The stone was pitch-faced or rough-cast except for a 2.5-inch wide (6 cm) vertical margin line that ran the length of the four corners of the obelisk. The interior brick was of an extra hard-burnt variety. Smith suggested the brick core because it reduced construction costs and allowed the association to build a taller monument. The granite was anchored to the brick with galvanized iron clamps.The obelisk was constructed on top of a 14-foot (4.3 m) square pedestal base. The pedestal was 9 feet (2.7 m) tall and had chamfered corners. On each of the pedestal's four sides, there was a polished panel that was 4 feet 4 inches by 9 feet 0 inches (1.32 by 2.74 m), weighing nearly 8,000 pounds (3,600 kg). The pedestal also had an additional 5 feet (1.5 m) of foundation that was sunk into the ground and anchored with Portland cement. On the south corner block it read: "DEC. 22 A.L. 5897 / WALTER E. MOORE / GRAND MASTER."With the obelisk and its pedestal combined, the Vance Monument was 75 feet (23 m) tall. At the time, the monument was "towering", the tallest structure in Asheville, and was meant to be seen from a distance. The only indication that the monument was for Vance was the single word "VANCE" engraved into the polished panel on each side of the pedestal. Local history columnist and librarian Rob Neufeld noted that it is one of few Civil War monuments in the South with abstract form, arguing, "The fact that it is not of a person, a soldier, a horse, or some kind of object that symbolized the war is significant. It is not, therefore, a symbol of slavery in the South; it's a monument to honor Vance."The pedestal had a railing at its bottom step and was surrounded by a low, 2.5-foot tall (75 cm) simple iron fence with supporting stone posts spaced at 4-foot (1.2 m) intervals. Shortly after World War I, a taller fence iron fence was installed.Forty years later, the Asheville Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy added a plaque to the monument, along with the support of the American Legion and B'nai B'rith. The plaque read:
American Legion United Daughters of the Confederacy Civil War Richard Sharp Smith Confederacy Washington Monument South obelisk Asheville chamfer Daughters of the Confederacy B'nai B'rith World War I