Eli Bates Fountain
The fountain in 2012
Location	Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Coordinates	41°55′22″N 87°38′7″W / 41.92278°N 87.63528°W / 41.92278; -87.63528

Eli Bates Fountain, also known as Storks at Play,^[1] is a fountain and sculpture in the center of the formal garden outside Lincoln Park's Conservatory, in Chicago, Illinois.^[2][3][4]

Description

The fountain is composed of a large, circular granite basin, two bronze storks (or, possibly, herons) with outstretched wings and water spewing water from their beaks, three figures that are half-boy and half-fish each holding unwieldy fishes, and bronze reeds and cattails at the center.^[5]

History

The fountain was installed in 1887 as a gift from Eli Bates, a wealthy Chicago business man. It was designed by famous artist Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848–1907), and his assistant Frederick William MacMonnies (1863–1937), who later would design the famous central fountain, the Grand Barge of State, in the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition.^[5]

References