I swung past the Pearson Conservatory last week while looking for a Geocache in St Georges Park and was happy to see that the fountain inside had a new lick of paint. Whatever they put on it after the Conservatory’s renovation started to get ugly. The fountain itself wasn’t working but I’m hoping its a case of not being turned on yet after it got painted.
The Pearson Conservatory was originally built in 1882 and restored to its former glory between 2009 and 2011. The center piece of the conservatory is an ornamental fountain made by Andrew Handyside at the Duke Street Foundry “Britannia Iron Works” in Derby in the UK around the same year. The Britannia Foundry’s work was well known for its fine quality so these fountains can be found all over the globe. This particular design of fountain is listed as Design Number 15 on Page 30 of the 1879 publication “An Illustrated book of Designs for Fountains and Vases, costing from £1 to £1200 manufactured by Andrew Handyside“. The same fountain can be found at Prince Alfred College, Adelaide, Australia as well as at Sarmiento School Fountain in San Miguel de Tucuman, Argentina, South America.
Thanks for the history lesson on the fountain! I love the conservatory – never realised how English a park St George's park was till I visited Kew gardens here in London 🙂
Thanks too for the interesting info.
“…costing from £1 to £1200…” I wonder what one gets for £1 and for £1200!