The fountain feature in front of the 700 Broadway building was filled with dirt Friday morning as a landscaper worked to transform the water feature into a garden space. No word from the building management on the reasoning behind the change but we’ll check in.
The feature has been put to use from time to time as another foamy soap bubble prank option on the Hill. Friday’s dirt means no more moments like the below, which, I think we can all agree, is a significant tragedy.
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The move also leaves the Mountain Fountain of Cal Anderson Park as the only major bubble target left operating on the Hill. Doing that is costly and damaging, many responsible people will tell you, so please don’t do it.
all they needed to do is add an anti foaming agent to the fountain and bubbles wouldn’t be able to form. What a waste of a nice water feature!
I’ll miss that fountain.
one day they were SO insane that the wind was carrying them to Joebar
best day of my life
One day I was sitting in Roy Street Coffee and a man came in to talk about how his little girl had been playing in the bubbles the day before and had some sort of accident which I think ended up with her breaking her nose. The guy seemed pretty reasonable, but I thought at the time “that’s the end of that fountain,” because he could easily have tried to sue.
sorry, anti-foaming agent only works for a small amount of bubbles, not the amount seen in the photos. I don’t blame them for shutting it down.
I don’t know what the laws are like here regarding fountains, but I’m used to it being illegal to play in fountains for that exact reason.
Of course, I also come from the city that is second only to Rome in the number of fountains it contains.
I’m thinking those hotties were hotter when they were dirty.
I was so curious which city in the world has the second highest amount of fountains. I was really shocked to find out the answer.
I’m amazed that people are actually bemoaning the transformation of a pointless water feature into what looks like some very attractive landscaping. Unlike the fountain in Cal Anderson, the one at Roy is in a space that nobody really wants to hang out at, situated as it is at a major intersection. It always came across to me as one of those fountains whose sole purpose is to advertise the apartment or condo building to prospective buyers. This is a good move!
Creation of that fountain was discussed during the design review process for that building about six years ago. I was in attendance for some of that. I don’t recall the precise details, but the developer (or owner?) wanted to put a piece of art he designed on the building (like the wavy multicolored metallic pieces he put on Lake Washington near the west end of the 520 bridge and on the outside wall of an office supply store in Ballard), but DRB said (maybe in support of lots of public comment at the meeting) no, the fountain was preferred.
Without taking any position on the attractiveness or utility of either the fountain or the planter, I think if the fountain was built in exchange for the owner or developer being allowed to do something with the building that would otherwise have been prohibited (in exchange for a variance of some sort — then it seems the owner ought not be allowed to remove it now just because he or she wants to do so.
I recall that the art you mention was actually up for awhile and then removed. If I remember correctly, the artist/owner/developer was talking about “donating” the artwork really in order to take a tax deduction as opposed to putting good art in a good spot.
Here is an architecture article from the PI from 2004 that discusses the art-for-fountain swap. Relevant paragraph:
“For those looking for something positive in this debacle: at least it dodged another “gift” to the city from Max Gurvich, infamous for his “Aurora Borealis” sculptures at the west end of Evergreen Point Bridge. As one of the developers, Gurvich tried to swap one of his woven stainless steel and copper sculptures for the fountain that was part of a deal brokered by The Capitol Hill Community Council. The council declined and the fountain is now under construction.”
well, it was nice to see the fountain there. Flowing water is kind of a relaxing thing. Now I just hope they use the garden space for something bright and cheerful and colorful. Yes, that means somebody has to tend it.
And a note to those who spawned offspring they put in the fountain: STOP IT! Don’t you know the homeless used to clean up in there too?
Thanks, Linder. So the remaining question is: What deal did the Capitol Hill Community Council broker in 2003-2004 involving the water fountain that is now being removed?
I live at 700 Broadway , above the fountain and I can tell you it was great having it until some assholes kept pouring in the soap. On many nights there were probably a hundred drunk people screaming and running around in it, stopping traffic , yelling at the top of their lungs. Come on people, have you not seen soap bubbles before?!
The fountain was nice to have and it will be missed, but I wont miss the drunken soap dance parties!
Yes some girl fell and broke her nose in the bubbles after her stupid parents let her go and play in them, and she couldn’t see the fountain features and fell in. They were upset and threatened to sue the owners. I say it is their fault for letting her play in it! Dumb asses!
Seconds until the gutter punks on broadway fuck up the new ‘garden feature’ with their inbred pit bulls 3…….2…….1…
Jose, that does sound annoying. Did you discuss it with your neighbors? If so, what were their thoughts about possible remedies for the situation?
When the developer of the property agreed to build that fountain as part of the deal brokered by the Community Council years ago, I wonder what the plan for dealing with soap in the fountain — which anyone who has ever regularly been around a public water fountain could have anticipated — was.
get out! that shocked me too.
My thoughts where just to install a timer to turn it off at dusk as the soap dumper seemed to only come out at night. Seemed like a good idea but no one listens to me.
They also had a lot of trouble with the pump and it was always breaking down and leaking. I think owners/managers just got tired of dealing with it.
Someone said above that no one wants to hang out at the fountain on a busy street corner? Did you ever walk by on a sunny day, there is always people sitting there. One thing I didn’t like so much , (because I live above it) people with musical instruments were drawn to it, Trumpets, Guitars, Banjos, Saxophones, Accordions – yes, accordions! Try sleeping when someone is going to town on their frickin accordion!
Im just wating for the Caribbean drum group to show up! Help!
If the misuse coincides with general lack of appropriate use, turning it off during that time seems like an appropriate solution. I suspect that if my home fronted that corner, I’d like the white noise of the fountain covering up street noise, even at night.
As someone who does not live their, my concern is over developers arranging deals which they are allowed to break just a few years later. I wonder what the response at Design Review Board meetings and/or meetings between the developer and the Community Council would have been to someone saying, “Hey, you can’t just drop a fountain in to make up for your lack of ______. You know people are very likely to put soap in it, and I suspect you’ll skimp on the parts, leaving a fountain that will in six years be replaced by something else or morph into some kind of frankenfountain. In fact, the building manager might just fill it in with concrete or dirt in a few years. Were you to offer that potential-future-fountain-replacement now, we’d turn you down and leave you with the requirement that you do that to which you’ve proposed this alternative, so I’m inclined to turn down your fountain offer and have you to go back to the drawing board.”
Why don’t you take it up with the design board?
Take the few minutes that you spend complaining here about it and pick up the phone.
Jose: I passed it on to the Community Council a couple days ago. Mike Kent and Jen Power are on it.