Two Fountains on Riverfront Under Construction
Originally published in The Best Times, February 2022. Written by Carol Coletta, President and CEO of Memphis River Parks Partnership.
In the middle of a frigid February, soaring summer temperatures seem like a distant prospect. But wait a few months, and Memphians will be aching for any kind of cooling available.
By summer, 2023, visitors to the riverfront will find not one but two big new fountains to provide cool, soothing water and sound. Both fountains are under construction now as features of two major new riverfront projects — the restored Cobblestone Landing and Tom Lee Park.
The Cobblestone Landing Fountain is at the foot of Union Avenue — a strategic and heavily trafficked connection between downtown Memphis and the river — at the top of the cobblestones. It is part of a new overlook that allows visitors to linger at the top of the landing to get away from Riverside Drive traffic and enjoy views of the historic landing. The overlook includes grand staircases on either side that lead visitors down to the landing and overlook the stones.
The overlook and fountain, designed by Ritchie Smith Associates and Delta Fountains, features four vertical ‘monoliths’ — oriented East-West and low enough to provide unencumbered vistas of the landing and the river — that recirculate water and create bubbling “water walls” down the sides of each structure. Low stone walls, designed to encourage seating, surround the fountain. The material palette includes granite to reflect one of the major stones found in the field of cobblestones.
Delta Fountains is responsible for some of the nation’s best known water features, including the September 11 Memorial in Lower Manhattan tracing the footprint of the Twin Towers, the Pentagon Memorial in Washington, D.C., and the Oklahoma City Memorial.
The fountain and the overlook are part of the restoration and improvement of the historic Cobblestone Landing. Layers of asphalt, concrete, sediment, vegetation, and utilities that have built up over the years will be removed to restore the landing to the state in which it was originally completed in 1880. More than 100 mooring rings will be preserved and depressions in the cobblestone field will be evened out. The landing will become ADA-accessible for the first time with a pair of ramps and pathway along the landing.
The misting fountain in Tom Lee Park, also designed by Delta Fountains, is radically different from the fountain at Union and Riverside. The fountain is 6000 square feet, almost spanning the width of the park, and is designed as an open invitation for visitors to walk and run through the mist and fog its 52 in-grade nozzles produce.
The fountain is the anchor to AutoZone Plaza, just south of Beale Street Landing’s green roof and west of the pedestrian crossing over Riverside Drive at Vance. It is the first feature park visitors encounter creating an exceptional entrance moment and is expected to be one of the new park’s most popular gathering places. New natural seating will be added to the green roof to the north of the fountain, along with a grove of trees shading movable tables and chairs to the south, to allow park guests to enjoy the fountain play.
Fifty in-grade lights will give the fountain a unique lighting effect at night.
One big bonus: the fountain operates with recirculated water, another of the park’s sustainability features.
Summer relief is on the way on the Memphis riverfront. Now, if we could just do something to get through the remaining days of winter.
