Thanks to Sarah from the Capitol Hill Seattle Facebook group for the picture
A nearly five-month project to repair crumbling stone and the inner workings of Cal Anderson’s iconic sculptural fountain is complete.
Water is again flowing on “fountain mountain.”
Flow to the Doug Hollis-designed fountain was turned back on this week after the work project that stretched through the summer and covered the landmark in scaffolding and construction wrap.
Contractor JMS Masonry worked to strengthen the structure and apply water repellent and anti-graffiti coatings to the fountain. Seattle Parks and the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture also had the trouble-prone pump system that powers the fountain repaired.
We’ve asked Seattle Parks for a final price tag on the summer overhaul and will update when we learn more. UPDATE: Parks says the fountain pump rebuild cost around $18,000 plus another $5,000 in costs for removal and installation, and a $9,500 valve replacement. Total cost of the summer’s work should come in around $35,000 — plus 200+ hours of Seattle Parks labor and work from the Office of Arts and Culture. The results on a crisp, end of summer Seattle September day? Priceless.
The fountain is a celebration of what lies beneath Cal Anderson and the creation of the neighborhood’s central park — two 6.25 million-gallon vaults full of Seattle Public Utilities drinking water. There has been a reservoir at the site for 115 years. After the state mandated that Seattle’s open water sources needed to be covered in the early 1990s, Kay Rood and community groups helped lead an effort to cap the reservoir with a park.
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I was there the other day. It was beautiful seeing it flow again. I love this city!
Wonderful to see! Especially after the sad state of the fountain after the CHOP.
It is about time. Cal Anderson is on the bottom of the maintenance list of city parks. It seems that the Parks Department has an unwritten rule about prioritizing maintenance and enforcement of no camping policies in parks in wealthy single family neighborhoods and in the south end. With the exception of Volunteer Park, Capitol Hill’s parks are neglected, dirty and blighted. It makes me wonder why that is the case. Is there a different standard applied in urban villages with primarily renters? Is it because our District 3 representative is MIA? Alternatively, has it fallen to the bottom of the list to punish us for voting for Sawant? It doesn’t make any sense that the parks in the densest urban neighborhood are in such a state of disrepair.
As a resident of D3, I can vouch that other parks in single family areas under Seattle Parks Department are not very well-maintained… A lot of times the residents do volunteer work to prune and clean and water.
Yes! Getting back to normalQ
Glad to see this repaired after CHOP
its called “the nip”
It looks really pristine now.
Great news!
Now can we cap the reservoir in Volunteer??
That seems unlikely to happen. Volunteer park’s reservoir is only being maintained for emergency use. Since it’s not a part of the regular water supply, I doubt that the city would want to spend the money to cover it.
I actually didn’t know the Cal Anderson Park is sitting on top of a reservoir! What a wonderful idea!
It’s a shame how it has become of it, but I think it will get much better once the City gets out of the current paralysis.