By David L. Cordes, Administrator

2003

The intriguing fountain on the back lawn at Terrace Hill has been a highlight to the landscape for years. However, time and exposure to the elements have taken their toll, and work was needed to restore the fountain.

When Terrace Hill was undergoing its initial restoration in the late 1970s, the fountain needed work, but with the more pressing needs of the mansion itself, the fountain did not receive attention until 1981.

Jerome Thompson, Terrace Hill site coordinator at that time, reflected that while work was needed to restore the fountain, funds were not available, so the scope of the project was scaled back to what was affordable. A pump pit and pump were installed. The many layers of paint were analyzed by restoration painter Dick Lebertew. With the original color of the fountain documented, layers of paint were removed. The fountain was repainted in its original color scheme. Soon, water was squirting out of a little pipe where the birds beak had once been.

Repainting was necessary in 1994, and the fountains original paint scheme was abandoned in favor of a bluer hue on the sculpture, with the leaves and ferns a dark forest green. After a few years, the pump fell into disrepair and efforts to operate it were abandoned.

In 2001, through a memorial gift from the family of Bonnie Koch, a long-time volunteer at Terrace Hill, $6,000 was designated for the total restoration of the metal and castings of the fountain. The metal work was completed by Tom Nichols of Eldon, Iowa. Nichols is an experienced pattern maker as well as a welder and metalworker with expertise in 19th century metals. The painting was done in the original color scheme by Terrace Hill restoration technician Brian Browning. A second pump was added to provide enough water for the four lower spouts, which had not been usable for decades. Water now also flows from the newly reconstructed birds beak and cascades down its wings.

Until now, the history of the fountain has remained somewhat of a mystery. Little was known beyond the casting mark: Robert Wood & Co. Phila. After researching the Wood foundry, Terrace Hill contacted cast-iron expert Margot Gayle, with the Friends of Cast-Iron Architecture in New York and the University City Historical Society in Philadelphia. Later, Tim Wood, with the University City Historical Society, referred Terrace Hill to Ann Chandler Howell, Adjunct Professor at Philadelphia University, who is conducting a research project on the Wood foundries.

According to Howell, Robert Wood began business as a blacksmith in 1838, but soon expanded into ornamental cast iron. From 1857 to 1865, the firm was known as Wood & Perot and then again as Robert Wood & Co. until the operation filed bankruptcy.

Terrace Hills fountain, which has been called The Boy and the Bittern by Howell, first appeared in the Wood & Perot catalog in 1860. This fountain, which came in both zinc and cast iron, was available with the option of a pedestal base or the more picturesque rockpile base. A zinc version exists in Salem, Ohio, as well as two more in the Arts and Industry Garden Collection at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. Howell stated, Wood was known for his railings nationwide, and he defined much of the ornamental landscape throughout the country I have located his work in 30 of the 38 states then in the Union.

All of this historical data provides us with both certainties and probabilities regarding the specific history of the fountain. Of certainty, the Terrace Hill fountain is as significant as it is beautiful so much so, that two examples are in the prestigious collection at the Smithsonian Institute. Of probability, our fountain originated with the construction of Terrace Hill in 1869 and the extensive landscaping done by J. T. Elletson of New York, under the direction of architect W. W. Boyington of Chicago. Elletson, originally from England, had worked at Buckingham Palace and Roby Castle. As with everything done by its original owner, B. F. Allen, Terrace Hill was a display of what wealth, skill and talent could accomplish.

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