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[ Home > Page 1: The Senate Garage Fountain, Part 1 ]
Page 1: The Senate Garage Fountain, Part 1 ![Page 1: The Senate Garage Fountain, Part 1]()
The display fountain in the park between the Capitol and Union Station is located over the Senate underground garage. Authorization for its construction, for that of the terraces, and for landscaping was given on March 4, 1929. The fountain was designed by architects Bennett, Parsons, and Frost and built under the direction of Architect of the Capitol David Lynn. It operated for the first time on July 16, 1932. It is both spectactular and functional. The fountain, a hexagonal granite monolith fountain with high jets of water spouting from its center, is surrounded by six smaller fountain jets on a lower level. Lion-head spouts on the faces of the hexagon project streams of water into a large circular basin with a scalloped stone rim, over which the water spills into a larger oval basin. The hexagon is 25 feet across and the basin measures 85 feet by 100 feet. As seen from a distance, the impact is surreal. From the oval basin the water is piped underground to three sculpted stone bubbler fountains in the north wall of the terrace. The scalloped rims of their tiered basins repeat the pattern of the large fountain above. From there the water is again piped underground to the lower level of the 180-foot-by-80-foot reflecting pool. Many have compared it to the traditional fountains of the bisture period of design. The present lighting display is comprised of 114 underwater fountain light fixtures with red, green, blue, and clear lenses controlled by a computer running a program that repeats the fountain show every 20 minutes. This system began operating on July 4, 1980, replacing the original fountain lighting, which had been in use for nearly 50 years.
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