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Buckingham Fountain

The Clarence Buckingham Memorial Fountain has provided a civic center for Chicago’s Grant Park since its completion in 1927. The 280-foot diameter water feature is based on the central fountain at Versailles, rendered at twice the original’s size. Its monumental form is a vestige of Daniel Burnham’s visionary 1909 Plan of Chicago, initially brought to fruition by a team of architects including Marcel Francois Loyau & Jacques Lambert with Bennett, Pearsons & Frost.

Restoration of this unique civic amenity included the structure’s sculptural features, adjacent pump house structure, and a new plaza surface to properly accommodate twenty-first century visitors. New nozzle, piping, and lighting systems restore the fountain’s original 1920s performance capabilities, enhancing the fountain’s historic features while expanding its repertoire to include more intricate choreography of water and light during the warm weather months.

AWARDS AND PUBLICATIONS:
2011 Chicago Architecture Foundation, Patron of the Year Nomination

LOCATION: Chicago, IL
CLIENT: Chicago Park District
PROJECT LEAD: Thompson Dyke & Associates
ARCHITECT: 
UrbanWorks, Ltd.
PROJECT INITIATION: 2008
COMPLETION OF WORK: 2009
SITE AREA: 280 ft diameter fountain