Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB19/16/007

Address :
Drinking Fountain Castle Gardens Castle Street Lisburn Co. Antrim

Townland:
Lisangarvy

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Survey 2:
B1

Date of Listing:
08/10/1981 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Fountain

Former Use
Fountain

Conservation Area:
Yes

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
Yes

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
165/06

IG Ref:
J2697 6442

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Owner Category

Local Govt

Exterior Description And Setting

Free-standing decorative cast-iron public drinking fountains, dated 1872, as one of five identical fountains presented to Lisburn by Sir Richard Wallace. Standing approximately 3 metres tall the fountain comprises a tall octagonal pedestal with four upturned console brackets and resting on an iron projecting base. The pedestal supports four caryatids with Ionic capitals to their heads, and along with their arms, support an octagonal entablature to a decorative dome embellished with fish-scales and dolphin pinnacle. The water-spout is positioned to the centre, and no longer functioning. Each caryatid represents kindness, simplicity, charity and sobriety according to the variations in pose and robes. The fountain stands within a public park close to the centre of Lisburn.

Architects

Lebourg, Charles-Auguste

Historical Information

The drinking fountain is first shown on the 1900-02 town plan of Lisburn. It was presented to the town, with four others, by Sir Richard Wallace in 1876. Sir Richard Wallace, ultimately the second-largest landowner in County Down, had a life-long connection with France and lived in Paris for much of his life where he was part of an artistic milieu that included Baudelaire, Flaubert and Theophile Gautier. Shortly after his father, the Marquis of Hertford’s, death in 1870, Paris came under siege by the Prussian army and Wallace chose to stay in the city, to the delight of Parisians, where he made use of the large fortune he had just inherited to benefit them. He founded a hospital at Neuilly and military ambulances for the wounded, put in place assistance for the victims of bombardment and the distribution of supplies to the people. Following the siege, water was in short supply in Paris and Wallace had the idea of donating 50 drinking fountains to the city. He wanted the drinking fountains to be beautiful and he entrusted the design to someone he knew well, the sculptor Charles-Auguste Lebourg. Several models of fountain were designed but those eventually given to Lisburn are of the ‘large’ type, inspired by the ‘Fontaine des Innocents’, also in Paris. After the first 50 were commissioned by Wallace, the city of Paris cast another 30 at its own expense and the foundry then marketed the design world-wide. The fountain bears the date 1872 and the name of the foundry [Val d’Osne] Chateau le Bourg. (Marcouyau, p.554, Brett (1996) p.292) The Director of the Wallace Collection comments, “These fountains had the distinction of adding a new word - 'Wallace' - to the French language. Many of those street monuments have been removed from their original sites. Within a few years it is likely that they will have disappeared entirely. Fortunately . . . there are several in Rotterdam, two in Sir Richard Wallace's former parliamentary constituency at Lisburn in Northern Ireland (where three were sacrificed to the wartime demand for scrap metal), another is at Ilfracombe,- one at Grandy in Canada, one at Laurenco Marques in Mozambique, one at Recife in Brazil - and one in the Wallace Collection, London”. (quoted in Brett, 1969) Brett notes that in 1969 the fountains were painted blue, as they are today. The Parisian fountains are painted dark green in order to blend with the foliage in parks and tree-lined avenues. Originally the water spouted out of the cupola supported by caryatids and fell into the basin, washing a cup supported by a chain. These cups were later removed, in Paris and elsewhere, due to fears about public health. (Joanne, p.40) The fountains in Lisburn were presented after Sir Richard Wallace’s visit to the town in 1873 and were situated, according to Kennedy, “One at the junction of Market Place and Bow Street, in the middle of the road opposite "Crazy's"; one in Market Square, on the site of Nicholson's statue; one in the Castle Gardens, which is still there; one at the junction of Seymour Street, Low Road and Millbrook, in the middle of the road; one in the Wallace Park main walk, which is still there.” (Kennedy) According to Brett, “The sculptor, born in Nantes in 1829, died in Paris in 1906; a pupil of Rude, he hardly lived up to his early promise, a large proportion of his work being in the museum of his native town…he…was the author of slightly florid marble busts of Lord Hertford and Lady Wallace, still displayed in the Collection” (Brett (1996), p.292) Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/8/17/1 – Lisburn Town Plan 1859-61 (rev.1875-6) 2. PRONI OS/8/17/2 – Lisburn Town Plan 1876 3. PRONI OS/8/17/3 – Lisburn Town Plan 1900-02 Secondary Sources 1. Brett, C.E.B. “Buildings of County Antrim” Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society and Ulster Historical Foundation, 1996 2. Brett, C.E.B., Dunleath, Lady “List of Historic Buildings, Groups of Buildings, Buildings of Architectural Importance in Borough of Lisburn” Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, November 1968 – May 1969 3. Joanne, Adolphe and Paul "The Diamond Guide for the Stranger in Paris" Messieurs Hachette et Cie., eighth edition, 1878 4. Kennedy, Dennis ‘The Art of Remembrance’ in Lisburn Historical Society Journal, Vol 2, December 1979 (available at www.lisburn.com) 5. Mackey, B “New Casts of Busts of Richard, Fourth Marquess of Hertford, Sir Richard and Lady Wallace for Lisburn Museum” in Lisburn Historical Society Journal, Volume 8, 1991 6. Marcouyau, H and Levade, M-H “Les Fontaines de Paris: l’eau pour le plaisir” Editions Chapitre Douze, 2006 7. www.oxforddnb.com – Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation J. Setting K. Group value

Historic Interest

V. Authorship X. Local Interest Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

Free-standing decorative cast-iron drinking fountain within Castle Gardens. Designed by Charles-Auguste Lebourg from initial sketches by Sir Richard Wallace, these sculptural fountains are more commonly associated with Paris, where Wallace financed the design and construction of 66 identical fountains in response to public water shortages following the 1870 Franco-Prussian War. In 1876 Wallace presented 5 of these fountains to Lisburn, three were used for scrap metal during the Second World War and a further fountain is positioned in Market Square. The obvious beauty and craftsmanship of these fountains is further accentuated by their association with Paris, and a global network of Wallace fountains linking such places as South Africa, Montreal, Barcelona, Lisbon, Jordan, Rotterdam and many more. The fountain also forms part of a collection of monuments contained within Castle gardens that greatly enhance the amenity value of this open space

General Comments

Date of Survey

07 May 2010