DOWNTOWN — A 1,000-pound chunk of marble billed as a fragment of Chicago's famed Buckingham Fountain is for sale.
Sticker price: $22,000. Shipping is $299.
North Side antiques dealer Stuart Grannen is trying to sell the piece as Chicagoans celebrate the 90th anniversary of the ornate Grant Park fountain.
Grannen said he doesn't recall what he paid for the stone, which he bought decades ago from a North Shore woman who was a descendant of Edward H. Bennett, the architect who designed Buckingham Fountain in the 1920s.
He said he doesn't know its history but he surmises the builders of the fountain "must have made a few extras."
The Chicago Park District has no record of this or any similar duplicate fragment, and "would never have sold off" any fragments from Buckingham Fountain or any other sculpture, said Jessica Maxey-Faulkner, a Chicagao Park District spokeswoman.
Grannen, of Ravenswood-based Architectural Artifacts Inc., said he drew upon his own expertise when pricing the 5-by-3 foot cut of pink Georgia marble that is identical to the fountain's clam shells. He has earned a reputation for salvaging a number of valuable historical objects over the years, including limestone columns from the old Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
Grannen said he originally wanted the fountain fragment for a museum he aimed to open. But he dropped those plans in favor of selling the chunk, likely to another museum.
"A few museums have said they want me to donate it to them," Grannen said. "I want to try to sell it first."
The $22,000 piece of Buckingham Fountain for sale. [Architectural Artifacts]
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Legendary architect and city planner Daniel Burnham originally wanted to make Field Museum the centerpiece of Grant Park, but city officials opted for a fountain after mail order baron A. Montgomery Ward fought in court to keep the park "free and clear" of obstructions.
Bennett and French sculptor Marcel Francois Loyau designed the fountain, drawing inspiration from the Latona fountain at the Palace of Versailles. The artists, along with engineer Jacques H. Lambert, carved granite and pink Georgia marble and fabricated bronze seahorses to build the fountain, which is twice the size of the Versailles fountain and shoots water 150 feet in the air, according to the Chicago Park District.
Philanthropist Kate Sturges Buckingham donated $1 million for the fountain, which is named after her brother, Clarence. The Buckingham family, originally of Zanesville, Ohio, were avid art collectors and made their fortune in grain elevators, real estate and steel.
The fountain cost $750,000 to builf in 1927, or about $10.5 million in today's dollars. John Philip Sousa and his famous band played at the fountain's dedication ceremony.
Buckingham Fountain spouts 15,000 gallons of water per minute and has a capacity of 1.5 million gallons of recirculated water. The fountain was manually operated in 1980 and underwent renovations in 1994 and from 2009 to 2012, according to the Park District.
Hordes of people see the fountain at summer festivals and other events, but buying the stone is a rare chance to see one of Chicago's best known sites in a way few ever will, one Grant Park booster said.
"Few people realize how massive these pieces are and the detail on them," said Bob O'Neill, president of the Grant Park Conservancy.
Click the slideshow above or scroll below for more looks at the fountain fragment, which is listed online here.
[Flickr/Ron Cogsnell]
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