Fabulous Fountains of New York with Stephanie Azzarone

Talk Highlights:

• Find out why the City Hall Park fountain so outraged women, causing it to be repeatedly moved from one borough to another, and ultimately placed in a Brooklyn cemetery
• Learn about the controversial statue at Bethesda fountain, which the sculptor, Emma Stebbins, modeled after her lover, Charlotte Cushman (It was also the first work of art commissioned for Central Park!)
• Examine the exuberant Fountain of Life in the Bronx, where terrified mermen, leaping horses, and scuttling crabs create an aquatic opera
• Admire the Evangeline Blashfield fountain, once hidden beneath the Queensboro Bridge, whose glorious mosaics attracted both man and beast
• See the Fantasia fountain in the Bronx, where thick-limbed and fanciful Art Moderne figures cool themselves as if lounging at the beach

About this Talk:

New York’s fountains are more than just decorative features. They are historical landmarks, cultural touchstones, and dynamic works of art—while also providing calming oases in the center of the city. Our fountains were designed, primarily, to honor men and women of accomplishment, memorialize events, and, sometimes, to keep people from drinking too much alcohol. They range in era and style from 19th-century Victorian fantasies to 21st-century mist gardens.

The new book, Fabulous Fountains of New York, looks at 72 of the city’s most intriguing fountains--new and old, famous and little known--across all five boroughs of Manhattan, and tells why they came to be, who was behind them, and how the fountains have changed over time.

Join author Stephanie Azzarone as she shares a selection of her favorite fountains and the stories of what makes them special in this live virtual talk!

About the Author, Stephanie Azzarone

Stephanie Azzarone is the author of two books about New York City history
and architecture. Her first, Heaven on the Hudson: Mansions, Monuments, and Marvels of Riverside Park, received the Victorian Society Book of the Year Award. Her latest, Fabulous Fountains of New York, just launched. A native New Yorker, she is a former journalist (freelancer for The New York Times and New York magazine, among others) who later ran an award-winning Manhattan public relations agency. Now a licensed New York City tour guide, Stephanie shares her knowledge of the city through walking tours and presentations.

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