A Wallace Fountain

There are 103 Wallace fountains in Paris, supplying fresh drinking water in the streets. They were a gift to the City of Paris by long time resident Sir Richard Wallace, an Englishman. Wallace, the illegitimate son of the 4th Marquess of Hertford had inherited a fortune in 1870. Both Wallace and his father were considerable art collectors, bring together not just paintings, but furniture, sculpture and armour in their houses, including at Chateau Bagatelle in the Bois de Boulogne. When he commissioned the fountains he wanted them to combine practicality with beauty. I'm not sure if he realised how iconic they would become.

Installation of the fountains started in 1872. They are cast iron and painted in the dark green approved for streetscape furniture by the City. The biggest ones are 2.71 metres tall and weigh 610 kilograms. Wallace himself sketched his idea of how they should look, and decided on their size, construction and cost before taking his design to a professional sculptor for refining. Their principle design feature is the four caryatids, in four slightly different stances or attitudes. They offer an aesthetic element, but also prevent horses from poking their head in for a drink. Dogs likewise are out of luck as the fountains are too high. Wallace supplied the fountains, the City of Paris supplied the plumbing and decided where the fountains would be installed. At the time they cost about 1000 francs each.

Because of the damage that had been caused in the City by the Prussian War and then the Commune, many sources of fresh water had been contaminated in the early 1870s. Unlike many of his friends and peers, Wallace stayed in Paris through all of this upheaval, and funded field hospitals and soup kitchens. The fountains, which guaranteed rich and poor alike access to potable water were immediately welcomed. They meant people did not have to risk water from the Seine or resort to beer or wine to quench their thirst. And they were free, which other water supplies were not necessarily.

Today visitors and residents of Paris are encouraged to use the Wallace fountains to refill their water bottles, and reduce plastic waste. At the moment the fountains run a continuous stream of water into their basin and users simply put their bottle underneath to catch it. But in today's world that is wasteful so experiments are underway to see if pressing a button to dispense set quantity of water will work.  

And if you are in London, don't forget to visit the Wallace Collection, in Manchester Square. It is free, and is Richard Wallace's collection that he hastily sent to England for safe keeping when trouble broke out in the streets. 

************************************************

UPDATE -- RESPONSE TO COMMENTS:

Carolyn -- an Irish friend tells me she encountered one in Tbilisi! You can buy one for yourself from the foundry apparently!