Pulitzer Fountain

Look to your right and you will spot a tiered granite fountain featuring a wide circular basin, crowned by a dark bronze statue of a woman holding a basket. This is the Pulitzer Fountain, named for the legendary newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer, who died in nineteen eleven and left fifty thousand dollars, which is roughly one point six million dollars today, to build it. Pulitzer specifically wanted his fountain to look like the grand ones in the Place de la Concorde in Paris, France.

The executors of his estate held a massive design competition, and architect Thomas Hastings won the job. Hastings designed the magnificent structure you see before you, but the crowning glory, the statue of Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and abundance, came with a bit of a tragic backstory. Sculptor Karl Bitter designed the allegorical bronze figure, which is a piece of art meant to represent a broader concept like abundance, using a woman named Doris Doscher as his model. Bitter finished the plaster cast in April nineteen fifteen, but he died unexpectedly before he could cast it in bronze. If you look at your app, you can see a historical photo of that exact unfinished plaster cast. After Bitter passed away, his widow and the architect brought in another sculptor named Isidore Konti to complete the actual bronze statue. They finally dedicated the fountain in May nineteen sixteen, and local newspapers proudly declared it was bubbling with the purest water in the city.

Over the decades, the fountain required a few expensive facelifts. The original limestone basin was swapped for Italian marble in nineteen thirty-five, and finally rebuilt in sturdy granite during a massive restoration project that wrapped up in nineteen ninety. Before that nineteen ninety overhaul, the fountain had lost its magic and merely dripped and dribbled a sad stream of water. The restoration completely updated the mechanical systems, allowing the water to cascade exactly as intended, giving the plaza a brilliant rushing sound. Take a peek at your screen for a great shot of the water flowing perfectly.

Interestingly, that nineteen ninety renovation was mostly funded by neighboring businesses who formed a non-profit group to save the landmark. A huge chunk of that money, two hundred and sixty-four thousand dollars to be exact, came from the charitable foundation of Donald Trump. The incredibly generous donation raised a few eyebrows around town, primarily because a beautifully restored fountain indirectly benefited his own Plaza Hotel, which stands just across the street.

This rushing water and striking bronze goddess create a truly iconic New York vignette. Enjoy the refreshing sound of the cascading water, and whenever you are ready, let us cross over to our next location.