Buckingham Fountain: Chicago, Illinois
Posted by: 
Special.Ed
N 41° 52.548 W 087° 37.138
16T E 448638 N 4636171
A wonderful Chicago landmark along the lakefront.
Waymark Code: WM1YN
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 09/26/2005
Views: 79
Year Built: 1927
Architect: Bennett, Parsons & Frost with Jacques Lambert
Sculptor: Marcel Francois Loyau
Date Designated a Chicago Landmark: August 30, 2000
Funded by philanthropist Kate Buckingham in memory of her brother, Buckingham Fountain is one of the nation's finest fountains and a public icon of Chicago. It is the centerpiece of Grant Park, the city's grand "front yard," and is set within a handsomely landscaped garden, one of the city's finest examples of a Beaux-Arts-style landscape design.
The fountain is distinguished not only for its exquisite decorative details and finely wrought bronze sculpture, but also for its innovative use of technology which creates a dynamic light and water display on a massive scale. It is the work of architect-planner Edward H. Bennett, a significant figure in the creation and execution of the 1909 Plan of Chicago, which encouraged the creation of lakefront amenities such as the fountain.