Victoria councillors could soon be considering whether to protect the 50-year-old fountain in Centennial Square as a heritage feature or replace it with a children’s spray park.
Councillors have asked staff for a report on the implications of historical designation of the fountain, complete with a statement of significance. That is to be done in the context of other possible improvements for the square.
The discussions came as city staff recommended $40,000 worth of maintenance and improvements to the fountain.
“The city should look at creating a children’s play feature with a water feature and that should be a fairly robust examination of what the square can look like and what the centrepiece can be,” Coun. Ben Isitt said.
“The fountain has served a purpose for the past 50 years and there may be value in refurbishing it. But there may also be value in refurbishing the square with a new central feature.”
Coun. Pam Madoff said any discussion about changes to the fountain have to be made with its historical context in mind. She believes it deserves historic designation.
“The entire Centennial Square was a very cutting-edge development when it was created in the 1960s,” Madoff said. “It’s really useful to understand the elements that make it important in terms of the mid-century design itself.”
A gift from Saanich, Esquimalt and Oak Bay, the fountain was created as a piece of public art in 1965 when taxpayers in the three municipalities came up with the $30,000 it took to build the fountain.
“Each one of the monoliths — the mosaic monoliths — are orientated toward the gifting municipality with imagery and symbolism on it that sends very specific messages about various qualities and issues,” Madoff said.
“Sometimes, when things have been around for a long time, you tend to not appreciate them or just ignore them because they’ve always been there.”
Isitt said the city should probably consult with the municipalities who gifted the funding before making any significant changes to the fountain. But he said heritage designation of the fountain could make it difficult to make changes.
The square might have been cutting edge when it was opened but as is common with much public art, the fountain has a love it or hate it quality.
Almost as soon as it was completed, some began advocating for changes. The fountain was designed so people could lounge on the outer ring, perhaps dipping their toes in the water. But as soon as young people began doing just that, some councillors wanted it stopped.
In 1968, “hippies” hanging around Centennial Square were seen as such a problem that then-councillor Robert Baird was bemoaning the fact he couldn’t have them publicly whipped.
Instead, council decided to resurface the fountain with stucco — making lounging more of a test of endurance than a welcoming respite.
City engineering staff say that removing the stucco is all but impossible without causing significant damage to the underlying surface.
Some have argued that the fountain, if not removed, should at least be moved to make Centennial Square more functional for events such as concerts.
The fountain survived a $1.6-million square makeover in 2009 that saw the addition of a covered performance stage on the back of the McPherson Playhouse and spirit poles and water features in the northeast quadrant.
