T'he Ornamental Movement of Water in City Streets 
desired. The nearest buildings are too far 
away to interfere, and a scheme almost com¬ 
pletely independent might be adopted. 
There was dedicated in Chicago, on July 4 
of this year, a fountain occupying a space 
not dissimilar in general environment to 
that just described. It stands at the en¬ 
trance to one of the parks of the West 
Side Boulevard System, and was designed 
by Charles J. Mulligan, a sculptor attached 
to the Art Institute. The bronze portions 
were cast in Chicago, and the total cost was 
about $15,000. The patriotic motive of the 
Liberty Bell is evident, and the children, 
with their spouting Roman candles, are at 
least realistic. The sculptor has understood 
the wisdom of employing for this location a 
bold, assertive design. 
In a city park, occupying the space of 
several blocks, a fountain, unless of quite 
unusual size and importance, should not 
be placed in the center as a dominating 
feature. In Union Square, San Francisco, 
for example, a wise treatment would be 
to erect a small fountain at either end of 
one of the two main axes, where the central 
paths intersect the sidewalk. Or, one corner 
of the park might be utilized for the purpose. 
At a corner of Union Square, New York, 
there stood for some years, until it 
became battered by wagons, a small foun¬ 
tain designed by the 
late Olin L. Warner, 
for Miss Mary Nors- 
worthy Shepard. It 
was finally removed 
to the East Drive of 
Central Park, where 
it now stands. The 
illustration shows the 
plaster model made by 
Mr. Warner, and its 
modest, yet distin¬ 
guished character is at 
once apparent. The 
people’s side of the 
fountain has a drinking 
place for human kind 
and another for dogs. 
On the side for horses 
is modeled a large 
shell and two lively 
dolphins. 
Of fountains standing in the middle of 
a street or roadway, without grass about 
them, no American city boasts a more 
admirable example than Portland, Ore¬ 
gon, with its Skidmore fountain, also 
designed and executed by Olin L. Warner. 
Stephen G. Skidmore, an early settler 
of Portland, left for it a sum increased 
by his friends to about $18,000, and 
by the good offices of an intelligent citizen, 
the commission went to the New York 
sculptor. 
Looking thus superficially over the 
American field, it is evident that a begin¬ 
ning has been made, and that recent 
activity has been well directed. The beauty 
and the utility of water decorations in 
city streets are coming to be appreciated, 
and the widespread recognition of oppor¬ 
tunities thus far neglected is a sign distinctly 
encouraging. 
Development along these lines must be 
gradual. Rather than see ill-considered 
schemes pushed hastily through, the true 
worker in the cause of municipal art wrnuld 
prefer indefinite postponement. But if care 
be taken to impress correct ideas upon the 
public, such alternatives must grow steadily 
less frequent. 
Samuel Swift. 
MODEL OF A FOUNTAIN FORMERLY IN UNION SQUARE, NEW YORK 
Designed by the late Oliti L. Warner 
428 
