Lovejoy fountain

Our final trip of the year takes us to the northern far west, where the Oregon Trail ends – right to heart of Downtown Portland. Oregon is home to a very unique and now historic fountain that was completed in 1966 by American Landscape artist Lawrence Halprin. He was a well rounded man and his style of architecture was modern. He also taught and designed, earning a Bachelors from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design.

Now let’s learn a bit more about the state of Oregon. Before becoming a state, Oregon was inhabited by many indigenous tribes and settlers who created their own government in 1843. This land became known as the Oregon Territory and which eventually became the state of Oregon on February 14th 1859.

The City of Portland
Portland is Oregon’s largest city, and is nestled near the Willamette and Columbia rivers. The city is known for its public transportation systems and great land planning, the latter of which has earned Portland the reputation as one of the world’s most environmentally friendly cities. Locals enjoy Portland’s many microbreweries and rose gardens, especially because Portland is described as very outdoor friendly city with many outdoor activities. Portland was incorporated in 1851 and is located near the end of the Oregon Trail.

The Lovejoy Name
The Lovejoy fountain was the first in a series of fountains created for the South Auditorium District – a renewal district project with the aim to enrich the city. The fountain sits within the Lovejoy Plaza, a one-acre plaza designed by Halprin + Associates and Satoru Nishita, partner-in-charge. The plaza sits only 300 yards away from Pettygrove Park. The Lovejoy fountain is the centerpiece of the Lovejoy plaza which is connected to other parks including the famous Keller Fountain Park.

The fountain itself is named after Asa Lovejoy, one of the first landowners of the Portland Town site. Halprin the landscape architect formed the Halprin Landscape Conservancy in 2001 to enhance and protect the Lovejoy Plaza, the Ira Keller fountain and Pettyprove Park.

The fountain itself mimics a waterfall and creates the effect of rushing streams of water that complement the placid pool of water nearby. The entire space was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in March 2013.

The Fountain of Wealth

This week my travels take me to Singapore, a sovereign city-state located off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula. The island was founded in 1819 and gained its independence from the United Kingdom in 1963, separating a second time from Malaysia in September of 1963.

The Island is known for its great casinos, medical tourism and education, but I’m after something specific. Located in the southern part of the island within the Marina Center sector, a reclaimed land zone known as the downtown core houses 5 buildings and a convention center known as Suntec City. Within this multi-use development center turned mall is one special fountain.

The Fountain of Wealth is listed as 2008’s Guinness Book of Records largest fountain. During the day, the fountain is turned off and visitors are encouraged to walk around the fountain’s central fountain and collect coins for good luck. During night hours, the fountain is the center of laser performances and between 8-9 PM special laser dedication messages can be made.

The fountain is the hub of the mall, located in the center. If the entire Suntec City sector were viewed from above, its five buildings and convention center would form a hand. Build in 1995, the fountain is inspired by the Hindu Mandala, a symbol for ‘oneness in spirit and unity’ and the word itself means ‘universe.’ The fountain is made of a 108 ft diameter silicon bronze ring held up by four slanted columns. The fountain stands at over 45 feet and its base is located underground.

The fountain symbolizes the equality and harmony of all races and religions in Singapore.

Continuum

The Julie Penrose Fountain is an amazing fountain in all respects. It towers over the open spaces of the America the Beautiful Park and sits atop a large pedestal that seconds as a turntable. The result is a sculpture that rotates every 15 minutes, and provides a delightful detail for many spectators to detect.

Dubbed ‘Continuum’ by creator Bill Burgess, this Colorado Springs fountain represents the life-giving properties of water and depicts in a simple way, precipitation from the sky. The sculpture stands over 40ft tall and weighs in at around 24 tons.

Architect David Barber lined the circular fountain with 366 water jets that spray water down to the fountain’s base where the fluid runs a circular path to the mouth of a pool and is collected for everyone to play in. The fountain is one of the Nation’s largest ‘sculptural fountains,’ and runs daily from 11:00 am to 5:30 pm between May 23 to August 22, and is open only on weekends from August 23 through Labor Day.

Dedicated June 7th 2007, the fountain’s construction underwent many setbacks due to budget crunches and uncertain funding. However, the fountain eventually received funding through the generous donations of El Pomar Foundation supporters. The organization was created to enrich the well being of Colorado residents. The Julie Penrose fountain is named after El Pomar Foundation Co-founder Julie Penrose, both she and her husband Spencer supported the project from its beginning.

Washington Harbor

Awhile ago I wrote about the fountain at the Washington Harbor. Here is a really cool video of the light show!

The fountain features: Day and Evening water and light shows, 41 custom Crystal ChoreoSwitches®, 3 Central Burst jets that reach up to 60’/ 18m, 42 Crystal LED IQ sequencing lights and Show Controls that can be run from an iPad or iPhone.

 

Swarovski Face Fountain

What girl doesn’t love Swarovski crystals? It was during my search for some new jewelry that I discovered a really cool, but frankly bizarre looking fountain that creates the entrance for the crystal themed indoor park, Swarovski Kristallwelten (Crystal Worlds).

This huge fountain is built into the hillside of Austria creating a tribal looking face that spurts water from its mouth. The eyes of the face are made from unblinking crystals that light up at night.

The pictures of this fountain are absolutely fascinating as it appears that the fountain is a natural part of the hillside.

The Big Giving

I woke up today feeling absolutely exhausted…and kind of sick, so I decided to talk about a bizarre fountain that reflected that. It’s called The Big Giving and it is located in London just south of the Hungerford footbridge.

A strange series of seven fountain sculptures by German artist Klaus Weber depict rock people spewing  water out of….well, every orifice imaginable. Let’s just go straight into pictures:

Although I’ve never seen this fountain in person (unfortunately) if I am ever in London I will be sure to make the trip over to The Big Giving.

Forsyth Park Fountain – Savannah Ga

I don’t know if I mentioned that I stopped in Savannah, Ga on my way back to Jacksonville from my trip a couple weeks ago, but I did. And like I mentioned in my very first post, I absolutely love Savannah and all the history there.

One of the most interesting things about this city is that it is apparently haunted. While I was there I asked a local tour guide if he knew about any haunted fountains. (I couldn’t help myself.) Below is the story he told me about the famous Forsyth Park Fountain.

Aaron and Lois Churchill were happily married and lived in what is now Forsyth Park Inn. They brought home a little girl name Lottie one night. Life was perfect for all three of them. One day when Lottie caught her sister Anna in the romantic embraces of her adopted father. Lottie decided that the best solution to the problem was to poison her sister, which she did.

Anna turned out to actually be her mother. When she was told that she had killed her mother Lottie went insane. She was committed from that moment on. The ghost of Lottie is not vengeful and instead is said to have a childlike spirit. The spirit of what she could have been and when she was most happy. Child’s laughter and footsteps are reported most often. She has been seen on the staircase and has been felt by the fountain in which she had watched her poisoned sister die.

Friendship Fountain, Jacksonville

I just realized that all of my posts are about fountains I have seen while traveling, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to write about a fountain here in Jacksonville, FL. One of my favorite fountains in Jacksonville is called the Friendship Fountain, and it is the perfect fountain to talk about so close to Independence Day!

The Friendship Fountain is located in downtown Jacksonville overlooking the St. Johns River. It is huge circular fountain with multiple smaller jets of water surrounding a huge jet of water in the center. At night the Friendship Fountain lights up blue to match our famous blue bridge, the Main Street Bridge.

The entire week up until the 4th of July will be fireworks and a patriotic light and music show at the Friendship Fountain. There is no better time to visit this great fountain if you are ever in my neck of the woods!

Washington Park, Ohio

I mentioned in my last post that I had visited NYC with my longtime friend, Hannah. It was during this trip that Hannah discovered my love for water fountains and decided she would tell me about some of her favorite fountains.

Hannah is an Ohio native and told me about a wonderful fountain in Cincinnati at Washington Park. Like some of my favorite fountains, the fountain at Washington Park is huge and interactive!

It is state-of-the-art with 7,000 square feet of interactive water jets. The reason Hannah mentioned this particular fountain is because her kids absolutely love playing there in the 130 plus pop up jets that are synchronized to lights and music.

Hannah showed me pictures of the fountain she took on her last trip to Washington Park and it looked like such a fun place to visit!

Bethesda Fountain

After my trip to D.C. a couple weeks ago I decided to make the trip to NYC. I love this city and think about moving here every time I visit. I was with a friend who had only been to the city once for a brief visit so while we were there we saw all of the typical NYC attractions.

We spent way too much money to see the top of the Empire State Building (but it was worth it) and rode a ferry to see Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. Unfortunately Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty were both closed to the public but it was nice to see them from afar.

On the very last leg of our whirlwind NYC adventure we stumbled into Central Park. This park is by far one of my favorite features of New York City. It is such a strange and surreal experience to be in such a quiet and peaceful place surrounded by the noise and traffic of the city.

The deeper you go into the park the easier it is to forget you are in one of the world’s largest cities. One of the best places to see in Central Park is tucked away overlooking the central park pond, the gorgeous Bethesda Fountain.

This fountain is easily one of the biggest fountains in NYC and is absolutely stunning. The statue of the angel in the center of the fountain is the only sculpture that was commissioned as part of the original design of Central Park. This fountain can be seen in the background of many movies, and it is easy to see why.

The Bethesda Fountain is absolutely a must see if you are ever in New York City!