Future Liverpool: Fountains!

[The Teardrop Explodes]

'Fountains Of Liverpool' should be the grand title of my first book. Dead easy, we only have about 2!! (Drinking fountains on the Dock Rd and the odd one in a park doesn't count).

Along with a long list of stuff I'd like to see, the sculptures etc, I'd love the city to commission shed-loads of fountains. I don't know why councils don't pick up on stuff like this (well, ok ££££££?). Anyone who's ever been to Rome can testify to the amazing enhancing effect quality fountains can have on a city's profile and it's environment.

The first one I'll commission is a huge spectacular baroque thing for the Adelphi/Lewiss' road juction at the bottom of Brownlow Hill (it's got a name that junction though I've forgotten what).

Second one, top of Church St/ Bold St.

Best Fountains In Liverpool
1. The 60's bucket one at the back of The Goree offices. This is a great thing. A work of conceptual art in itself. Wierd noises then cascades of water. I was told each stem of buckets represented one of the Beatles -great imagery- except there are 5 of em...
2. The Walker Fountain. It's ok. Classical, bit boring to be honest but nice enough.
.......and that's the Top 2 out of 2!

Anyone ever remember the Eros fountain in Seffo ever working?

[The Teardrop Explodes]

..alright forgot the Williamson Square car-wash..

[MissInformed]

i love Simpson's Bowl outside St Nicks...

if this counts as a fountain...?

[The Teardrop Explodes]

err...not really!

Is it running at all that? Years since I saw it...it's a drinking fountain isn't it?

[MissInformed]

yep it's a drinking fountain, or was should I say!

It is not running at the minute, but I know there are plans afoot to restore some of the drinking fountains.

And it has the word fountain in it, so I say it counts! :)

[PhilipG]

yep it's a drinking fountain, or was should I say!

It is not running at the minute, but I know there are plans afoot to restore some of the drinking fountains.

And it has the word fountain in it, so I say it counts! :)

Point taken, MissInformed. :)
Let's differentiate between drinking fountains, and public display ones, as this is a subject I've never considered before.

Public display ones in Liverpool are very few:
Steble Fountain, William Brown Street.
Williamson Square.
The Buckets behind Beetham Plaza (ex Wilberforce House).
and ?.

I never knew that the Eros Statue was supposed to be a fountain - proves that it's never worked in the 30-odd years I've been in Liverpool.

Round about the time of the Garden Festival, there was a short-lived one in either Princes or Sefton Park.
So short-lived that I can't remember which park! :Colorz_Grey_PDT_16:

Do burst water-mains count?

[dups45]

ive always thought about somethign in the albert dock, or is this not possible becuase there are still boats that use it?

What is the water feature going to be like in chavasse park?

[oritelad]

theres also a drinking fountain on the old waterloo tunnel opening by byron street

[scouse smurf]

..alright forgot the Williamson Square car-wash..

lol, I like this fountain. Sorry it's not a great photo

[Kev]

lol, I like this fountain. Sorry it's not a great photo

cheers smurf, thanks for sharing :)

[PhilipG]

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/195/477468300_e4d0d251ec_o.jpg


http://farm1.static.flickr.com/170/477494611_0ae438c9ba_o.jpg

[PhilipG]

I didn't know that this fountain was working again.
I always loved it.
The water's an awful colour, but it's fascinating trying to figure out which bucket is going to be the next to be emptied.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3133/2510067788_a6b7ec9f37_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2123/2510067422_dfc3ffbe19_o.jpg

[shoney]

you need one high enough where vandals can't get to it but still giving the display of an amazing water feature, dicky lewis' willy would be the first to come to my mind but may not be appropriate, although the manequin ****e in belgium would be the equivalnt..............we're sitting on a goldmine and never realised.

[Ged]

I know students once put washing up liquid in it and it foamed, how about a drop of food colourant?

[Alan Smithee]

I didn't know that this fountain was working again.
I always loved it.
The water's an awful colour, but it's fascinating trying to figure out which bucket is going to be the next to be emptied.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3133/2510067788_a6b7ec9f37_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2123/2510067422_dfc3ffbe19_o.jpg


We used to play around this fountain as kids all the time back in the 70's - I used to be mesmerised by it, could sit for hours just watching it. It had a very hypnotic quality to it...

[gregs dad]

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3264/2830733960_1c307f4361_o.jpg
Ye olde drinking fountain in Old Hall St. there seems to be a few wall mounted
ones around Liverpool but not many of these.
The top is missing and the cup which used to be on a chain. All the parks had
these and most main roads when I was a lad.
This one still has it`s lead piping inside it

[edwardo]

As a kid I drank from a wall mounted one by queen vic Monument.

[skgogosfan]

There's another ornate one on West Derby Rd which would be nice to see working again,and a slightly less fancy one in Botanic Park quietly rusting away.

Dave.

[marky]

Herculaneum Dock/City Quay, has four water jets (usually set as 2 geysers/2 fans). The geysers are quite tall and noisy, when powered-up.

The Sefton Park lake fountains are getting re-installed at the moment.

[Samp]

Hesketh Park in Southport had the lake revamped last year with two fountains in the lake. Well worth a visit!

[Howie]

http://web.onetel.net.uk/~howardpaterson/uploads/LiverpoolOne3.jpg

[Howie]

Liverpool's Williamson Square fountain row
Apr 2 2009
by Marc Waddington, Liverpool Echo

CITY leaders meet tonight to discuss the long-running mystery of why the Williamson Square fountain is still out of action after nearly a year.

The ?1.1m water feature has not worked since last summer. They blamed its failure on heavy rains and fat from burger vans .

They now say they are in talks with the fountain designers and are hopeful they can avoid ?court proceedings?.

Labour group Central ward Cllr Nick Small demanded answers.

He said: ?There are serious questions here about how the council has managed this process.

?It needs to be in the public domain and open to scrutiny.?

A council spokesman said: ?Parties involved in the design and build of the fountain have been in talks to try and identify the problems and resolve the issues with the help of independent experts.

?It is hoped that this can be done without recourse to court proceedings but clearly if that is not possible then the reports of the independent experts may be pertinent to the proceedings and it would not be appropriate to disclose.

?As is usual these discussions are taking place on a ?without prejudice? basis.?

The meeting begins at 5pm at Millennium House.

Source: Liverpool Echo (http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2009/04/02/liverpool-s-williamson-square-fountain-row-100252-23296372/)

[redjed1]

Liverpool's Williamson Square fountain row
Apr 2 2009
by Marc Waddington, Liverpool Echo

CITY leaders meet tonight to discuss the long-running mystery of why the Williamson Square fountain is still out of action after nearly a year.


Source: Liverpool Echo (http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2009/04/02/liverpool-s-williamson-square-fountain-row-100252-23296372/)

Has someone forgotten to pay the leccy bill?

[manhil]

tell me more about the Eros Fountain
where it is situated; when it was working last?

what ist the best of this building - water, bassin, pictures etc.???
thankyou manhil

[pablo42]

tell me more about the Eros Fountain
where it is situated; when it was working last?

what ist the best of this building - water, bassin, pictures etc.???
thankyou manhil

Is this the Stebhill Fountain at the top of William Brown Street? I believe there is one in Princess Park too, or am i getting mixed up with Sefton Park.

[az_gila]

Is this the Stebhill Fountain at the top of William Brown Street? I believe there is one in Princess Park too, or am i getting mixed up with Sefton Park.

The Eros one is the one in Seffie Park, and was cast from the same mould as the one in Picadilly Circus...

http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/conservation/reveal/graphics/small/19-13-1.jpg

Correction - it WAS in Seffie Park (that's where I remember it from) but is now in the Conservation Museum near St. Johns Garden in town.

I saw it last October, and I think it looks better outdoors than indoors...

http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/conservation/reveal/gallery/sculpture/findoutmore/eros_sculpture.aspx

[underworld]

Heres one of the fountain that was in Newsham Park. I know no details about it, I just have a postcard of it from the early 1900s.

The one underneath of course is from Commutation Row/William Brown street from the 1920s.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2708/4282182465_5dd17946e9_b.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4066/4282187291_f35f9f3fb7_b.jpg

[marky]

Shaftesbury memorial fountain, Sefton Park.

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee262/south_liverpool/Fountain.jpg

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee262/south_liverpool/Fountain_location.jpg

[pablo42]

Nice photos guys.

[az_gila]

Shaftesbury memorial fountain, Sefton Park.



The Shaftesbury fountain is the Eros one...

From wiki...

Shaftesbury Memorial and Eros Fountain
This is Grade II listed and situated in the centre of the Park next to the cafe and former site of the aviary. The fountain, made from bronze and aluminium, was unveiled in 1932 and is a replica of a memorial to Lord Shaftesbury created by Sir Alfred Gilbert in London's Piccadilly Circus. It was restored in 2008 with a new aluminium Eros statue replacing the original which now resides in Liverpool's Conservation Centre.

I guess Eros is the name of the statue, and the whole thing is the Shaftesbury fountain....:)

[essexscouse]

I have vague recollections of a drinking fountain in princes park (could have been seffie) it was built into a wall and was a lions head with a small water spout out of its mouth you had to push a button to turn the water on to drink

[az_gila]

Yes... I remember that too...:) _ or I might have been thinking of the more ornate one linked below...

I'm voting for Seffie Park though, since we rarely visited Princes Park.

I think it's the "Gothic Fountain" shown on page 3 here...

http://www.liverpool.gov.uk/Images/tcm21-116408.pdf

[Ged]

There is a fountain at Liverpool 1 which marks the boundary wall of the first dock. It is named in commemoration of William Hutchinson and Rob Ainsworth did a good piece on him/it in the historical societies handbook last year. See more here: http://quazen.com/reference/biography/william-hutchinson-1715-1801-liverpool-dock-master-the-most-significant-liverpudlian-of-1797/


.

[empeebee]

Point taken, MissInformed. :)
Let's differentiate between drinking fountains, and public display ones, as this is a subject I've never considered before.

Public display ones in Liverpool are very few:
Steble Fountain, William Brown Street.
Williamson Square.
The Buckets behind Beetham Plaza (ex Wilberforce House).
and ?.

I never knew that the Eros Statue was supposed to be a fountain - proves that it's never worked in the 30-odd years I've been in Liverpool.

Round about the time of the Garden Festival, there was a short-lived one in either Princes or Sefton Park.
So short-lived that I can't remember which park! :Colorz_Grey_PDT_16:

Do burst water-mains count?

There certainly was a fountain in Princes Park in the '80s and it didn't last long. This was a public display one, not a drinking fountain, being a 20-30 foot jet of water projected upwards from the middle of the lake. I believe it was removed after an accident involving a young boy - one of the first examples of over-zealous Health & Safety actions? I do know that anglers ( for oxygenation reasons) and some members of the Friends Of Princes Park are in favour of re-installing it.

Much earlier (anyone know when or when it stopped working?) there was a drinking fountain built into the Yates Obelisk near the main gates of Princes Park.