
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.
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.

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.

