'The Ornamental Movement of Water in City Streets 
ready to suggest ways and means. Practi¬ 
cable plans have been matured lor certain 
important open spaces in American cities, 
such as Copley Square in Boston and the 
Plaza in New York, and these await the 
day when public sentiment shall demand 
their embodiment in three dimensions. 
The present writer has endeavored to 
suggest, in previous articles in House and 
Garden, the desirability of moving water as 
a decorative factor in public streets, and to 
give some idea ol the design of fountains, 
from examples here and in Europe. One 
aim of the present paper and its illustrations 
is to convey a notion of the multiplicity of 
chances for sculptural or architectural street 
fountains in this country. Study of these 
problems and of certain existing solutions of 
them is by no means uninteresting. Where 
possible, American examples have been 
obtained. The writer has availed himself 
freely of information and suggestions kindly 
vouchsafed by architects in several cities. 
To begin with a place that would have 
seemed obstinately unsuited to a street 
fountain, even to one intended only for 
drinking, and having no continuous how, 
let the reader look at the highly ornamental 
design carried out this summer in the 
Prudential Building, at the corner of Broad 
and Bank Streets, Newark, N. J. This is 
in the heart of the city’s business quarter, 
and the sidewalks, especially on the Broad 
Street front of this tall office building (at 
the left side in the illustration), are generally 
crowded. To encroach upon them would 
have been out of the question, and so the 
architect, Mr. H. P. Kirby, of the office of 
Mr. George B. Post, evolved the plan here¬ 
with shown. The building itself is not new, 
though three large companion structures 
have recently been erected near it. Changes 
in the banking office on the ground floor 
obviated the need of the former entrance in the 
round corner of the building, and to decorate 
the opening thus left, this ice-water fountain 
was designed. As will be seen, it does not 
project beyond the corner to any appreciable 
extent, and is not in the way of passers-by. 
The rich Gothic of its style contrasts rather 
shrilly with the subdued Romanesque of the 
original architecture, and with this, one may 
fairly quarrel. In itself, the design is hand¬ 
some and well-knit. It was modeled full 
size by Mr. Kirby and carved in light gray 
stone by Miss Ellen Kitson, and it includes 
a number of small heads, as well as much 
elaborate detail. The inner basin is of 
bronze, and the outer one of polished 
granite. The water spout, which had not 
been completed when this photograph was 
taken, is a bronze dragon’s head, fitted into 
the center of the wall. 
Before the water was introduced, there 
was some misapprehension among the unin¬ 
formed as to the purpose of the carved 
stone structure. It is reported, indeed, that 
an Italian woman was found, at one of the 
less crowded moments of the day, kneeling 
before it and telling her beads. The Gothic 
shrine is in fact suggested here with some 
plausibility. Perhaps in designing the foun¬ 
tain, the architect felt that contrasting treat¬ 
ment was necessary, to give it relief against the 
relatively colossal background of the build¬ 
ing. In any case, while the choice of style is a 
proper subject for difference of opinion, the 
idea of seizing upon such a place for a foun¬ 
tain was distinctly a happy one. It is hardly 
to be expected that corner doorways in office 
buildings will often be available for such 
treatment, but architects might occasionally 
provide space for similar ornaments, if so 
disposed, in designing new structures. 
As suggested in the previous articles of 
this series, wall fountains offer a particularly 
favorable chance to the sculptor or architect 
seeking to decorate an American city. The 
external recesses, not only of office buildings, 
but of other large structures, would often be 
suitable for the purpose. A capital instance 
would be the Post Office at Baltimore; 
another, the City Hall of Philadelphia, with 
its numerous indentations of outline. As 
for the interior court of the latter, it could 
be transformed into a place of pleasantness 
and tarrying, with the aid of such a fountain 
as that of the chateau of Chantilly, admir¬ 
able in its proportions and its simplicity. 
For nearly two hundred years this wall 
fountain has proclaimed the good taste of 
Louis Henri de Bourbon. 
Another desirable place for a wall foun¬ 
tain, also in Philadelphia, is the Green Street 
entrance to Fairmount Park. The reservoir 
wall is already there and the water could not 
