Landscape Information
Serving as the gateway into the 319-acre Grant Park on the western shore of Lake Michigan, this rectangular plaza features parterre-style gardens and a central fountain. With four symmetrical points of access, the western entrance is level with South Columbus Drive, while the other three have wide staircases that lead either down to Lake Shore Drive (west) or to the park (north and south). The expanse of the plaza and its slight elevation provide panoramic views of Lake Michigan and the surrounding Chicago skyline.
Initially founded in 1835, the park’s current design was created by architect Edward H. Bennett as part of Daniel H. Burnham and Bennett’s Plan of Chicago (1906–1909). The fountain and surrounding plaza were a collaborative effort between architects Bennett, Parsons & Frost, engineer Jacques H. Lambert, and sculptor Marcel Francois Loyau. Dedicated in 1927, the fountain was donated by philanthropist Kate Buckingham (1858–1937) in honor of her brother, Clarence F. Buckingham (1854–1913).
Made of pink, Georgian marble, and inspired by the Bassin de Latone in Versailles, the fountain is the plaza’s focal point. Bordered by a narrow lawn and low ornamental fence, a large quatrefoil-shaped pool features four bronze sea horses positioned around a three-tiered fountain, ornately decorated with marine-themed carvings. The plaza, was initially surfaced with gravel, which was replaced in 2009 with geometric pavers. Four pavilions, designed by Woodhouse Tinucci Architects (1990s), flank the north and south entrances. In the plaza’s corners, parterre-style gardens—initially created by landscape architect May E. McAdams in the 1930s—comprise beds of varying shapes and sizes lined with low hedges and planted with flowering shrubs, grass, and orderly rows of American elm and flowering crab apple trees.
Clarence F. Buckingham Memorial Fountain is a contributing feature of Grant Park, listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.
