QUEENS — Repairs to a damaged fountain in Kew Gardens began this week and will include plans to transform the site into a plaza dedicated to women of the borough, according to the Queens borough president.
The $720,000 restoration project by the city's Department of Design and Construction will repair the stonework at the base of a fountain at the corner of Queens Boulevard and Union Turnpike on the ground of Borough Hall. The project will also improve landscaping, install benches and a plaque to honor the borough's women.
“The site will soon host a visible, meaningful tribute to the women of Queens and become a public space utilized and enjoyed by all," said Queens Borough President Melinda Katz in a statement Tuesday.
DNAinfo New York previously reported in 2012 that former Queens Borough President Helen Marshall had pushed to replace the controversial "Triumph of Civic Virtue" statue which stood on a base at the center of the fountain. The statue, which depicted Hercules and the sirens of Vice and Corruption, had been called sexist by some and was ultimately moved to Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn.
The restoration project is not expected to interrupt vehicular or pedestrian traffic before the project's expected completion in spring 2017, the borough president's office said.
