Grant Park

Buckingham Fountain stands at the center of Grant Park as its most significant feature. A gift from Kate Buckingham in memory of her brother, it was dedicated in 1927 as the world’s largest decorative fountain. Based on the Latona Fountain at Versailles, France, it consists of three circular Georgia pink marble basins measuring 24, 60, and 103 feet in diameter, set within a 280-foot-wide bottom pool. Together they hold 1,500,000 gallons of water, recirculating 14,000 gallons a minute through 133 jets, with the central jet reaching 137 feet high. The fountain symbolizes Lake Michigan, and four groups of bronze sea horses represent the four states around it. Its decorative features include pink marble consoles and shells, bronze sea horses that won first prize at the 1928 Paris Salon, fish heads that send water to the upper basins, and cat tails that conceal some of the fountain’s 653 colored lamps.

Chicago, Illinois · United States