Celebrating Public Fixtures – Where Have They All Gone?

We have a thing for street clocks… and public water features with ground level access for thirsty critters… and public art.

We know, we know… we lean toward the archaic.

England captivated us with its penchant for ornate market fountains – each equipped with staggered levels for the local animals: cats, dogs, horses. We found the Jardin du Luxembourg on an early trip to France, saw why the Luftwaffe command leadership took it over as their headquarters during the war, and we returned to picnic on its grounds.

Though we’ve never made it there we understand Moscow has some unique public squares featuring vertical art planted to display the Russian love of flowers. Perhaps we’ll visit one day – hopefully after they stop invading other countries.

America had public features of its own for many years, though the street clocks eventually fell into disrepair and disappeared, the fountains were cut off to save water, and public statuary intended to honor local military heroes were scrapped after getting a modern reading of their past.

You may have heard that they’re tearing out the much-maligned but landmark Vaillancourt Fountain in The City’s (can we still refer to it as “The City” or have those days passed?) Embarcadero Plaza and we were there when Bono tagged it back in, Good God, 1987. We won’t miss it but we haven’t been impressed by the replacement art going up in public spaces lately.

Some of the cast bronze reminders of our glorious past are still around, perhaps hidden away by overgrown landscaping or covered to prevent vandalism by soul-less Visigoths who couldn’t care less about their history or who sculpted them.

Know of any local examples? Something hidden away in a garden or park? Send us a note, but don’t give away the location…