Well, at least the lower part is. Seems like years since I saw it working.
Well, at least the lower part is. Seems like years since I saw it working.
I prefer to call it the Noguchi Fountain in honor of the great artist Isamu Noguchi who created it. It is a masterpiece that is at once immense, simple with minimal elements, and elegant.
Noguchi got the pylon named after him.
Wow, I don't think I've ever seen it work since I started working downtown in 2010.
I still think Mrs. Dodge would roll over in her grave if she could see what her money bought. I'm sure she had something in mind like the Scott fountain on Belle Isle.
The design may be simple but the mechanisms that operate it are certainly not. That is why it practically never works. I would have preferred a fountain based on gravity, falling water and a few pumps, a la Buckingham Fountain [[Chicago) or even Grand Circus Park. But that's just me.
It would certainly be more appealing if the upper portion worked. At least they got the CMart fountain right - and it's year round!The design may be simple but the mechanisms that operate it are certainly not. That is why it practically never works. I would have preferred a fountain based on gravity, falling water and a few pumps, a la Buckingham Fountain [[Chicago) or even Grand Circus Park. But that's just me.
It wasn't running for Jazz Fest this year which was quite disappointing. As a child the only reasons I wanted to go downtown were for the fountain and people mover.
By not working, the fountain more aptly allegorizes Detroit.
Last edited by Henry Whalley; September-17-22 at 08:05 AM.
Free Press, 12/16/70: "Mrs. Dodge had seen movies of a large fountain in Barcelona, Spain, and hoped one of similar grandeur could be built in Detroit. She did not however limit the future artist to any specific design in making her bequest."
Point taken, though Mrs. Dodge specifically intended it as a memorial to her first husband and their son, Horace Jr. She left $2 million for it, equal to about $15.3 million today.
Man, I wish they had built a more traditional fountain in Hart Plaza, but at least the one they did built is working again.
Dodge Fountain is great. Iconic, humanistic. idk why the city has such a hard time keeping it running at this point.
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