Chicago's Crown Fountain provides an example. Milwaukee's historic tiled fountains provide inspiration.
Chicago's Crown Fountain provides an example. Milwaukee's historic tiled fountains provide inspiration. Back to the full article.
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Beautiful private, indoor tiled fountains. But aside from the MAM’s fountain (without seating) or the beautiful North Point Water Tower at East North Avenue (with seating), nothing here approaches that of Chicago’s incredible Buckingham Fountain at Grant Park (Google it to see photos). I too would love to see something beautiful here along the Lake. But both the City and County can’t afford this, and Milwaukee’s big business seems more concerned about it’s bottom line than civic pride. And it may be tough for Milwaukeeans to exhibit civic pride without achieving adequate housing, health care, employment, transportation, youth based activities, and education, all free from violent and petty crime. Hopefully we can achieve sometime before the turn of the century! But with $1/2 billion in deferred maintenance in County Parks, another $1/2 billion in deferred maintenance of other capital assets, and a looming $1 billion for a new Courthouse, that support probably won’t come from taxpayers in the near future!!!
As a Milwaukee native (26th and Mineral, 39th and Galena), I visit my hometown as often as possible. Friends and I regularly discuss Milwaukee’s great neighborhoods, interesting people, thriving arts scene, etc. It also has major league sports, corporate headquarters, major universities, an extraordinary park system, close to half a million people, and all of those other qualities of a “city,” traffic, potholes and condescending suburbs, “My God, how can anyone live there?”. But, in these discussions, we always said to one another, something is missing, it isn’t even really a “city.” Now we get it: it doesn’t have a fountain. Who knew?
I now live in a city with fountains: Lincoln Center, the fountains at the World Trade Center September 11 memorial and the great Bethesda Fountain in Central Park. Just think, without these fountains, I would not be living in a city, but in an 8 million person, Wall Street run labor camp with a subway.
It’s a shame we don’t have a beautiful round grand non-tile fountain in Milwaukee. If there were one, I think it could fit nicely at the grounds near the north end of Summerfest. It would fit beautifully with the two grand museums there. It’s a public space. If water were pumped, it would be just a few hundred feet from Lake Michigan. It’s really a shame that businesses and corporations around Milwaukee, and the entire United States, have become so money focused. It’s like pulling teeth to get some art around here. As the saying goes, “It takes money to make money.” Spending money to install a beautiful and very impressive fountain next to this beautiful lake Michigan would be an investment in our public infrastructure that could bring people here together, give us something to brag about, and bring others to the city to see it.
A beautiful grand fountain would be a perfect way for a donor or group of donors to give Milwaukee another focal point. A big bold, fun gathering point.
We have an opportunity to build a grand fountain as part of the new courthouse. I remember when McArthur Square had a fountain that was a gathering place.
I thank Ben for raising this vision and providing a solid set of benefits that would flow from its actualization. Hopefully some proud Milwaukeean (or corporation) with the resources to make it happen, picks this notion up and runs with it.
A work of art by an acclaimed designer would become a lasting and notable landmark worthy of international attention, while providing a public amenity that would accomplish many of the benefits outlined in comments above.
As a past member of the board of Preserve Our Parks, I’ve had the opportunity to review many wildly inappropriate notions seeking placement on our beautiful lakefront. But a fountain of notable beauty? That’s may be an idea worthy of a lakefront siting, given careful review by those groups and governmental committees who have to date provided us with a lakefront that is second to none.
mpbehar: I don’t think this is something we ever expected of our municipal institutions, but rather from those venerable patrons, and the collective will of people organizing and raising funds to create beautiful, public infrastructure as an asset for the community. Children in Cincinnati schools raised pennies to build stunning Rookwood tiled drinking fountains for their buildings… Washington High School here in Milwaukee did somethings similar with senior class gifts… it can be done. We deserve this. We can make excuses that other things are more important, but that does not imply we are not entitled to this privilege. And Milwaukee has already done this. We built the Quadracci Pavilion showcasing the work of Calatrava. But it doesn’t end there. We need to keep thinking grand.
mkwagner: If we are investing 897 million in a court house… we better deliver on something worthy of that … and not something that will be demolished in another 100 years. If we are building things to be disposable, then should we be building them at all?
As for comments on location: one thing I really want to stress is a location where people gather already, where there are businesses that can cater to them… you know have an espresso and ice cream, etc. I think it would be unfortunate if a grand, artistic work of beauty that told that story of our place was only a destination people visited and left within a few minutes. In order to be grand and meaningful, it would need to be gathering place people want to hang out, eat, play music, slow down, and savor their surroundings, too.