News & Reviews: Fabulous Fountains of New York
NEWS & MEDIA COVERAGE
REVIEWS
Journalist and native New Yorker Azzarone (Heaven on the Hudson) offers a joyful and informative tribute to the city’s waterworks. In her introduction, Azzarone, who wastes no time making her love of fountains known (“Some say God is the fountain of all being”), traces the lineage of water-conveying architecture from Rome’s aqueducts to Versailles’s gardens to New York’s myriad parks, where fountains function as “a source of serenity, quenching a thirst for quiet” amid the city’s tumult. The 70 fountains Azzarone surveys, when not strictly decorative, are largely intended to honor heroes and famous figures (or, in one case, “hardworking horses”). Among them are a Bowling Green fountain that has been replaced numerous times over the past 180 years but, remarkably, still has the same fence, and the fountain at the center of Columbus Circle, which also happens to be “the point from which official highway distances from the city are measured.” She also spotlights functional fountains like the water troughs (for the city’s aforementioned hardworking horses) that were once prevalent, a few of which still dot Central Park. Each entry is illustrated with an elegant snapshot by photographer Robert F. Rodriguez; a particularly exuberant one depicts kids dancing in the jets of Brooklyn’s Domino Park fountain, which shoot straight out of the sidewalk. The result is an enamoring and enthusiastic ode to one small slice of the Big Apple. Illus. (Sept.)
—Publishers Weekly
“With meticulous research and engaging text, author Stephanie Azzarone has presented her readers with a comprehensive and very readable view of one of New York City’s treasures, its fountains. The accompanying photographs entice us to look further. Anyone who has encountered a flowing fountain in New York City will understand Azzarone’s fascination. This book is a lovely gift to New Yorkers and to the history of New York City.”
—Joan Adler, Executive Director, Straus Historical Society
“Fabulous Fountains of New York is an instant classic. As a fabulous, complete compendium of the fascinating individual histories of each of these unique urban aquatic monuments, it is a valuable source for historians, academics, civic designers, curious NYers, NYC aspirers, and water fetishists. I was delighted to learn about the fabulous fountain (and its antecedents) in my own park!”
— Skip Blumberg, Friends of City Hall Park, documentary filmmaker, and third-generation New Yorker
“In Fabulous Fountains of New York, Stephanie Azzarone opens a floodgate of long-obscured history of the scores of fountains that bring soothing sounds and beauty to an often harsh urban landscape. Many of these fountains are grand works of architecture and hydraulics gracing city parks and corporate plazas, but others have lovely, intimate stories or carry poignant memories. All make a more gracious New York City, as thoroughly documented by Azzarone and beautifully photographed by Robert Rodriguez.”
— Adrian Benepe, President, Brooklyn Botanic Garden
“Fabulous Fountains of New York restores to public knowledge a fascinating selection of urban amenities—some famous, some all but forgotten—from all around New York City.”