Located in Grant Park, the Beaux Arts-style Buckingham Fountain was designed by architect Edward Bennett after the Latona Fountain at Versailles. The font is famous for its grand size and for the height of its spray, which can reach as high as 15 stories. The fountain’s four water-spouting sea horse statues are said to represent the four states that surround Lake Michigan, while the fountain’s pool symbolizes the lake itself. The fountain was donated to the city by Kate Sturges Buckingham, a patroness of the arts who inherited her family’s massive fortune at the age of 32. Known as “Chicago’s Grandest Spinster,” she bequeathed the Buckingham Fountain to Chicago as a memorial for her brother in 1927 and established a trust fund for the fountain’s continuous operation as well.
Buckingham Fountain
Buckingham Fountain
