Breakdown: Buckingham Fountain

Buckingham Fountain-henceforth known as BF-is the entryway to Chicago, a representation of Lake Michigan based on the  Latona Fountain in Versailles. The Latona Fountain is dedicated to the goddess Leto, who embodies womanly demure and motherhood. Although I’ve never been to Versailles, I did google the Latona Fountain (and I have seen Sofia Coppola’s 2006 film Marie Antoinette at least 15 times) and BF does pay an impressive homage to the original. Beaux-Art Architect Edward Bennett designed the fountain, but sculptor Marcel F. Loyau created the four bronze seahorse sculptures that adorn the fountain’s lowest basin. The finned horses represent the four states that border Lake Michigan: Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, and, of course, Michigan. 

Now, let’s take a step back for a second because, like me, you might be wondering if there’s any relation to the royal home of the English Monarchy in London. Like an ad on craigslist, this one was a missed connection. No relation at all. Sorry to disappoint you.

BF was named for Clarence Buckingham of the prestigious Buckingham Family of Chicago. They were philanthropists and patrons of the arts back in the day. Since philanthropy isn’t actually a career and in practice refers to a wealthy person who’s moral compass is tuned enough to donate some of their wealth to various organizations and charities, it’s worth pointing out Papa Ebenezer Buckingham made his wealth in the grain elevator business. Clarence worked in his father’s company and climbed the corporate ladder-in this case a grain elevator- but found his own success as a stockbroker and bank director. Clarence even sat as the director of the Art Institute of Chicago for about a decade.

Clarence died unexpectedly in 1913 and his sister Kate took over his art collection and preservation work. About 11 years later, she donated the 1924 equivalent of one million dollars to build and maintain a fountain dedicated to her brother. It features four basins made of granite and pink Georgia marble with the four aforementioned bronze seahorse sculptures. The fountain uses almost 150,000 gallons of water per minute, and the jets can reach up 150 feet into the air! It was listed as Chicago Landmark in 000, seven years after rant Park was added to the National Register of Historic Places.