Is the New Washington Square Park Fountain Falling Apart? Fountain Now Under Wraps (Updated 5/17)

Updated May 17th, 2:52 p.m.

I’ve been thinking about writing about the fountain’s construction falling apart for awhile but now it appears there’s a real reason. There are workers on the scene repairing it. A reminder: the fountain is brand new, it was reconstructed from scratch as part of Phase I of Washington Square Park’s redesign in which the Bloomberg Administration decided to move it 23 feet east to align with the Arch at Fifth Avenue. It was newly constructed and unveiled to the public in 2009. So what went wrong? Was there faulty construction? Was it anchored properly? Did the Parks Department oversee the job? More information to come including response from the NYC Parks Department (Update: no response yet).

Updated May 17th, 2:52 p.m.: Third photo from the top is from late yesterday afternoon. The fountain is now fully encased by fences covered in green draping blocking off viewing of the work being done.

Some additional background: The fountain is part of the park’s controversial $30 Million + redesign plan, currently in the midst of Phase II (of III).The fountain had been located in its previous spot in the center of the park since 1871. Seven 40 year old trees were chopped down to accommodate the moving of the fountain. Two replacement trees planted in 2009 died, were replaced, and those replacement trees in the same location died also. They were recently replanted in the hope that they will survive this time. (It’s doubtful because nothing has been changed.)

Still no word back from the city’s Parks Department. See new post.

Part 2 with update from the NYC Parks Department here.