Tag: Fountains

  • Point Park

    2014-06-15-Point-Park-01

    The current landscaping scheme creates a broad, open recreational area in the middle, but with plenty of shade around the edges. The central jet of the fountain can reach 150 feet on a good day.

  • Dolphin Fountain, Highland Park

    2013-09-02-Highland-Park-07

    Frank Vittor gave us these striking classical dolphins for Pittsburgh’s parks, and a number of them remain in place and working. Some kindhearted soul has set out a water dish for the many dogs who come to walk their people in Highland Park.

  • The Point Fountain Again

    2013-06-16-Point-Fountain-01

    More pictures of the Point Fountain, because it was a day of inspiring clouds.

    2013-06-16-Point-Fountain-02

    2013-06-16-Point-Fountain-03

    2013-06-16-Point-Fountain-04

  • The Point Fountain Is Back

    2013-06-09-Point-Park-Fountain-03

    After four years of rebuilding, the glorious fountain at the Point is flowing again—now with substantial improvements that make it more accessible for recreation, without changing the simple elegance of the original design.

    2013-06-09-Point-Park-Fountain-01

    2013-06-09-Point-Park-Fountain-02

  • Rainbows and Bessemer Converter

    Rainbows glow as the late-afternoon sun hits a fountain in Bessemer Court, Station Square. Behind the fountain is a Bessemer converter salvaged from a steel mill; behind that is the Monongahela with downtown Pittsburgh on the other side.

    Click on the picture to enlarge it.

  • Schenley Fountain

    2009-10-10-Oakland-Schenley-Fountain-01

    The Mary Schenley Memorial Fountain in Oakland, with the Cathedral of Learning in the background. Both have recently been restored. Somewhere underneath that fountain lies a buried bridge, left there when a hollow was filled in to make Schenley Plaza.

  • Phipps Hall of Botany

    2009-05-20-Botany-Hall-02

    Tucked behind Phipps Conservatory, this grand little building houses an auditorium, some classrooms, and a huge portrait of Henry Phipps given by his friend Andrew Carnegie.

    Click on the picture to enlarge it.

    2009-05-20-Botany-Hall-03

    The delightful fountain in front is a recent installation, but looks like it belongs with the building.

  • Dolphin Fountain by Frank Vittor

    2009-05-20-Dolphin-Fountain-01

    In the 1930s, the great Frank Vittor, who had absorbed more than a little of the Art Deco spirit, designed the standard drinking fountain for Pittsburgh city parks. The main design, appropriately enough, was a classical dolphin (which looks nothing like a real dolphin). A surprising number of the original run of fifty fountains remain; this one is outside the Schenley Park visitor center, across the drive from Phipps Conservatory. They have recently been fitted with pushbutton valves (they used to run continuously), but otherwise they remain almost unaltered from Vittor’s original design.

    2009-05-20-Dolphin-Fountain-02

    2009-05-20-Dolphin-Fountain-03

  • Reflections at Gateway Center

    2009-05-15-Gateway-Center-01

    In the late afternoon, the declining sun plays with the shining surface of Three Gateway Center. Below, this modernist fountain is one of Gateway Center’s chief attractions.

    2009-05-15-Gateway-Center-02

  • Rainbows in the Point Fountain

    Click on the picture to enlarge it.

    The colossal central jet wasn’t jetting, but there was plenty of spray to make rainbows at the Point Fountain yesterday.

    Click on the picture to enlarge it.