Bailey Fountain
| Bailey Fountain | |
| sculpture | |
 |
|
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| State | New York |
| Borough | Brooklyn, New York City |
| Park | Prospect Park |
| Nearby structures |
4
|
| Parts |
crowning sculpture (Wisdom & Felicity), Neptune, Triton, & boy w/ cornucopia |
| Location | top of crowning sculpture |
| - elevation | 140 ft (42.7 m) |
| Architect Sculptor |
Egerton Swartwout Eugene Savage |
| Style | tbd |
| Construction | 1929-1932 ($100,000) |
Coordinates: 40°39′56″N 73°57′54″W / 40.6655°N 73.9649°W
Bailey Fountain is an outdoor sculpture in New York City at the site of three 19th century fountains in Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn, New York, United States. Renovated in 1956 and 2005-06, the 1932 fountain was funded by philanthropist Frank Bailey as a memorial to his wife. After 1974 thefts, some sculpture elements were stored for safekeeping.
The Fountain of the Golden Spray of 1867 with a single jet of water was part of the 1867 Grand Army Plaza design.
The 1873 dome fountain by Calvert Vaux replaced the 1867 fountain with a two-tiered, double-domed structure of cast iron and molded sections of Beton Coignet. Gaslights in the 37.2 foot (11.4 m) diameter dome were visible through one of 24 colored glass windows for evening illumination. Additional gaslights mounted in the guardrail illuminated the surface of the pool.The Brooklyn Mayor criticized the water use of the fountain which could pump 60,000 gallons an hour, and by the 1890s the fountain leaked and was frequently dry. A boy drowned in the fountain in June 1895.
The 1897 Electric Fountain replaced the 1873 fountain and was controlled by 2 operators during scheduled night exhibitions on Wednesdays and Saturdays with audiences up to 30,000. A Brooklyn Park Commissioner's initial plan for a single spout was superseded by Fredric W. Darlington's design, which was presented in May 1897 to the Park Commission. Wilson & Baillie Manufacturing built the fountain, and the commission's "consulting engineer" was C. C. Martin. Landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted placed the fountain at the intersection of two broad paths arranged as a Georgian cross within grassy, treeless plots at the quadrants. The "first exhibition" contracted for July 4, 1897, was delayed until August 7 and attended by "fully 100,000 people".
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Wikipedia