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Buckingham Fountain

Buckingham Fountain

Edward H. Bennett, Marcel François Loyau & Jacques H. Lambert

Photo: H. Michael Miley from Schaumburg, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Location
Grant Park, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Client / Owner
Kate Sturges Buckingham
Year
Completed 1927
Access
Public
Typology
Cultural

Buckingham Fountain stands in the center of Grant Park in Chicago. Kate Sturges Buckingham gave it in memory of her brother Clarence Buckingham. Edward H. Bennett is credited with the design, and the French sculptor Marcel François Loyau made the statues. It was dedicated on August 26, 1927, cost 750,000 dollars, and is built of Georgia pink marble. It is inspired by the Latona Fountain at Versailles.

The bottom pool is 280 feet (85 meters) across. The fountain represents Lake Michigan, and four pairs of sea horses stand for Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana. It has 193 jets, and its center jet rises 150 feet (46 meters) during shows.

Shows run on the hour for twenty minutes, and after dusk they add colored lights and music. The fountain is a Chicago Landmark and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 21, 1993.

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