150 years of Wallace fountains

Born in London in 1818, Richard Wallace went on to spend most of his life in France. From the age of six, he lived in Paris with the Marchioness of Hertford (at 3 rue Taitbout, 75009). Her eldest son, Richard Seymour-Conway, Richard Wallace’s assumed biological father, oversaw his education and passed on to him his love of art. On becoming his secretary, Richard Wallace helped his mentor expand his extraordinary collection of artworks. When Richard Seymour-Conway died on 25 August 1870, Richard Wallace inherited a vast fortune, including Château de Bagatelle which his father had acquired in 1835. He put this fortune towards philanthropic endeavours particularly in Paris and London, as well as Lisburn in Northern Ireland, which he represented as a British Member of Parliament (MP) from 1873 to 1885.

Richard Wallace lived out his final years at Château de Bagatelle, dying there on 20 July 1890. During his burial at Paris’ Père Lachaise cemetery, Parisians paid tribute to the man whom the press dubbed “the Providence of the Poor”.

After France’s defeat at the Battle of Sedan on 2 September 1870, the provisional government decided to carry on their resistance. In response, the Prussians besieged Paris for four months until the armistice on 28 January 1871. Thanks to Richard Wallace’s generosity in coming to their aid, he earned the Parisians’ respect and gratitude. Staying on in Paris, he invested his energy and fortune in alleviating suffering. He established field hospitals, donated money and necessities like coal and timber for fuel, started subscriptions to support the wounded or the destitute and walked from town hall to town hall across Paris’ districts to distribute money for food vouchers.

Richard Wallace had already engaged in philanthropy well before the siege. In 1850, he donated a lifeboat to the town of Boulogne-sur-Mer following the wreck that had damaged the town’s boat. Richard Wallace continued to show generosity right up until his death by funding hospitals and shelters for the poor. For 20 years, he served as Chairman of the British Charitable Fund, a foundation for helping destitute British nationals living in Paris. In the same vein as his support during the Siege of Paris, in 1879 he opened the Hertford British Hospital at Levallois-Perret to provide medical and surgical treatment for British nationals living in France. In 1872, on returning to London, Richard Wallace loaned the best part of his collection of artworks to the Bethnal Green Museum, recently founded in a working-class district of London, to give less privileged citizens an opportunity to access art. In 1897, his widow bequeathed the Wallace Collection to the British nation (including paintings by Titian, Vélasquez and Rubens), which has been on public display at Sir and Lady Wallace’s former London home, Hertford House, since 1900.

From the start in the 1870s, Richard Wallace’s philanthropic activities gained recognition and acclaim from his contemporaries. During the final days of the Siege of Paris, one of the last balloons to leave the city carrying letters, on 27 January 1871, was named after him, an array of medals were struck soon afterwards to celebrate his generosity and messages of gratitude were published in the press.

The philanthropist also received official honours in France and Britain. He was named Commander of the Legion of Honour in June 1871 and Queen Victoria made him a baronet on 18 August 1871 in recognition of his service in aid of the British who remained in Paris during the siege.

Right from Roman times, the dearth of water resources in Paris made hydraulic development works necessary. Apart from the River Seine, the city only had a few streams and springs where the water was of mediocre quality. Its groundwater, meanwhile, was either very deep or contaminated by wastewater. For a long time, the Seine remained the most accessible source, but as it was both a traffic route and sewage outlet, its water was not very clean.

Parisians and the local authorities therefore had to devise ingenious water supply solutions: private wells, drainage channels and then water or steam pumps. On witnessing the shortages during the siege, which were compounded by the ravages of war on some of the supply systems, and by the lack of drinking water points across a capital city whose population had grown considerably since the begining of the mid-19th century, Richard Wallace gifted fifty drinking water fountains to the City of Paris in 1872 : the Wallace fountains.

Manholes and drainage channels

From the 12 ^th  century, groundwater from the Belleville hill was tapped into to supply the large establishments along the right bank. Until modern times, a system of manholes and drainage channels, like the Lanterne manhole (1583-1613), located in the 19 ^th  arrondissement, was laid out to direct the water towards the city’s fountains. This is still there today, listed as a historical monument since 2006, and can be visited during the European Heritage Days.

Water pumps

By decision of King Henry IV of France, the Samaritaine pump, installed in 1608, drew water from the Seine via a wheel-operated system and directed it to the Louvre Museum and various fountains on the right bank. A second pump, attached to the Notre-Dame bridge, was commissioned in 1673. These were used until 1813 and 1853.

Artesian wells

Deep groundwater was a source of clean water, but difficult to access. The first artesian well was bored between 1833 and 1841 at the Grenelle slaughterhouse, followed by those at Passy and La Butte-aux-Cailles.

Aqueducts

The Gallo-Roman aqueduct carried water from the plateaus south of Paris to the centre of the city. Commissioned in 1623, the Médicis aqueduct followed much of the same route to supply the Louvre and public fountains. The Vanne aqueduct, built from 1866 to 1874, was installed on the remains of the Médicis aqueduct (17 ^th  century).

Until the 19 ^th  century, private wells and public fountains were the main places where water could be accessed. Paris had 17 fountains in 1499 and about 60 by 1799, but the quality and quantity of water distributed still fell far short of what was needed. During the 19th century, improvements in supply systems paved the way to more water points, not least the standpipes installed by the Prefect Rambuteau. To arrange water deliveries to their homes, Parisians were able to call on a “water carrier”. From the 1850s, demographic growth and public health requirements made new developments necessary. Baron Haussmann and the engineer Belgrand implemented a proper sewage system, separating the “public service” of fountains from the “private service” from 1865 giving apartment block residents access to clean spring water in return for a subscription - firstly in the outdoor yard and then direct to the floors. The subsequent growth in the number of subscribers led to the removal of some public fountains and the disappearance of water carriers.

In 1871, the damage caused to the water system during the War was swiftly repaired. Despite the great strides made thanks to Belgrand’s system begining in the early 1860s, in the aftermath of the Commune, paid access to drinking water was still very unequal, and about 40 % of Parisian households did not have it. What’s more, scores of workers and employees in an urban area undergoing strong demographic growth did not have access to drinking water during their work and commute in the daytime. Major development work was undertaken at this time.

To address this problem, no doubt inspired by the model of drinking fountains that London had at the time, Richard Wallace decided to fund fifty public fountains in Paris that were both functional and ornamental and provided locals and visitors alike with clean drinking water. The first was installed on Boulevard de la Villette in late July 1872. The Parisians adopted these drinking fountains right from the first few weeks of their installation. The press, coining the name “Wallace fountains”, soon reported crowds gathering around them and even quarrels breaking out in some instances during hot spells.

By funding these fountains, Richard Wallace was tackling a twofold health concern: preventing certain waterborne diseases and curbing alcohol abuse. After the great cholera epidemic of 1832, standpipes had already been installed across the city in the interests of public health. But there were new outbreaks in the city, which prompted the drainage work of the 1860s and the extension of the piped water network. Wide disparities in access to this network persisted, however. The raised bowl and the caryatids on the Wallace fountains prevented stagnant water, which was a source of contamination. In this way, they provided locals and workers with access to clean water, on the streets across all of Paris.

Richard Wallace’s action was also in step with the temperance movement that picked up pace after 1871. The philanthropist was one of the most generous members of the French Temperance Society founded in 1872 and hoped that the fountains would keep Parisian cummuting workers away from drinking establishments.

Drawing on his knowledge of art, Richard Wallace designed two fountain models, one wall-mounted model and one large model with caryatids. He entrusted production of the prototypes to the Nantes-born sculptor Charles-Auguste Lebourg (1829-1906), giving very precise instructions as to the size, appearance, budget and materials. Richard Wallace gifted the City of Paris with 40 caryatid models and 10 wall-mounted models. Painted in green to blend in with Paris’ Second Empire street furniture, the cast-iron fountains were installed by the City of Paris under the oversight of Eugène Belgrand, along the busiest public thoroughfares. The City’s technical departments were tasked with the necessary plumbing work for supplying them with spring water.

As an art connoisseur, Richard Wallace was keen for the fountains, over and above their functional utility, to serve an artistic and moral education purpose. He drew inspiration from various sources: nature and the aquatic world, with four dolphins decorating the top of the fountain in particular, as well as mythology and Classical motifs. Gaining recognition as pieces of decorative art too, the Wallace fountains soon came to be listed in tourist guides. The 1875 edition of the Joanne guide (a leading guide in French at the time), described them as follows:

“In one model, the water falls in a continuous jet from the centre of a dome supported by four caryatids, filling a small bowl where the cups held by a chain are immersed. In another model, the water falls from a woman’s head, placed at the centre of a small circular pediment, filling a small wall-mounted bowl between two pilasters.”

Dubbed the “temple of the four goddesses”, the standard fountain model is shaped like a small monument with an octagonal base. Four cast-iron caryatids (sculpted female figures replacing a column) hold up a dome adorned with fish scales. Each of them is distinct by the position of their feet and knees and by the tunic folds and way in which the tunic is tied. The four caryatids represent four virtues : Simplicity, Kindness, Sobriety and Charity.

In the years following the appearance of the first fountains, the City of Paris continued to install them across the capital, often at the request of residents who sent petitions to their elected officials. By 1875, there were 54 caryatid models and 63 by 1880. In 1877, to meet these demands, the municipality had its engineers design a new standpipe featuring motifs inspired by Wallace. The smaller size and lower cost of the “little Wallace” meant more water points could be rolled out across public parks and gardens. The first were erected in the spring of 1878.

In addition, some thirty so-called “Wallace-type” fountains with small columns replacing the caryatids were fabricated by the Le Mans-based Chappé company and were installed in the capital in the 1890s. There are only two of these left today, one in the 16 ^th  arrondissement (place de Barcelone) and the other in the 17 ^th  arrondissement (place Tristan-Bernard).

From 1810 onwards, cast iron was increasingly used to fabricate monumental statues, when before it had been limited to the production of utilitarian objects. This was because it was less expensive than bronze and very hard-wearing. One of the first furnacemen to use it, Jean-Pierre-Victor André, established an art foundry in 1836 in the village of Val d’Osne (Haute-Marne, east of Paris), a site boasting three key advantages for metalworking: iron reserves that were easily accessible on the surface, forest timber (for fire), and water (a stream).

Developing the technique of sand casting, he had the idea of replacing the wrought iron, which was expensive to produce, with “cast ironwork”. It was on this basis that he produced a lavish catalogue of statues, vases, candelabra, balcony models and monumental fountains often designed by renowned artists. His foundry soon grew to become the leading decorative casting works in France under the trading name “Fonderie d’art du Val d’Osne”.

After changing hands several times, in 1870 it became the Société anonyme des fonderies d’art du Val d’Osne which, in 1872, began manufacturing the Wallace fountains. In 1931, the foundry was taken over by its main competitor, the Sommevoire works which became Générale Hydraulique et Mécanique (GHM), and this company continues to harness the same expertise today.

The process by which the 80 pieces comprising the Wallace fountains are cast and assembled, has changed very little in 150 years. The sand casting technique began with the modelling by a sculptor of a plaster cast to scale. This was put into compacted sand to make a mould in the same shape. Another mould, called the core, a smaller model of the piece, was inserted in the middle of the outer mould to allow the molten iron, heated to more than 1,400 degrees Celsius, to pour into the spaces between the hollow mould and the core. After drying for more than 30 hours, the sand was broken and the cast-iron piece taken out.

Once the 80 pieces had been cast, it was time for trimming, which entailed polishing the piece and removing any rough protuberances arising during the casting process. The pieces were then chiselled and assembled before being painted. Each fountain weighs 590 kg and takes 4 weeks to make. Every year 5 to 10 fountains were made.

As in the past, each Wallace fountain is connected to Paris’ drinking water supply network via the same network that serves all the city’s apartment blocks. The water that flowed in them is therefore the same as the water that runs from household taps. The water is brought through a small pipe in the body of the fountain up to the dome, where it flows down in a continuous stream. Richard Wallace had devised its continuous flow to keep the water from stagnating and to encourage Parisians to drink from these fountains.

 Eau de Paris , the city’s public water operator, is responsible for ensuring the fountains are maintained and continue to work properly and for checking the water quality. The Wallace fountains, just like all of Paris’ other drinking fountains, are fully disinfected every fortnight. Cleaning and minor servicing are carried out on-site. Major repairs and restoration work are carried out at the fountain workshop.

The paint on the fountains is touched up without dismantling them. After mechanical brushing, three layers of paint are applied. The fountains look as good as new again for another ten years or so ! Time takes its toll on some of the parts, the scallop shells for example, often crack or break from wear. If they can be repaired, they are dismantled and reworked in the workshop. For a fountain to be fully restored, it needs to be dismantled and transported to Eau de Paris’ fountain workshop. This work takes about two months. Sometimes one of the fountain’s 80 pieces requires recasting. The team makes sure the original design is preserved: dome decorations, cup fastening hook, sculptural motifs, interior system. Every year, twenty fountains undergo restoration work. In 2022, on their 150 ^th  anniversary, 60 fountains were repainted or restored.

As part of the major municipal projects for a sustainable, resilient city, a trial to cut back on water use has been launched. In 2017, the first five fountains were equipped with a push button. 16 fountains now have one. Thanks to this mechanism, around 1,400 litres can be saved each day. The water flows for 15 seconds, distributing around 250 ml, which is the equivalent of a large glass of water. Because the Wallace fountains are ideally dotted around the city and because they contribute to Parisians’ well-being, a second trial has been initiated deploying a misting function. Installed on the fountain’s dome, a crown fitted out with nozzles sprays tiny water droplets every 4 minutes for 10 seconds. Fashioned in the workshop just like the push button, the crown fits discreetly and seamlessly onto the fountain without altering its appearance. The next step is to install a smart box for controlling the fountain remotely.

Countless artists were inspired by the Wallace fountain soon after the first were installed: painters, singers, photographers, film-makers ... many of them referred to the “Wallace” as a symbol of Parisian life, a fountain that had become an instantly recognisable landmark within the French capital.

In the post-war years, humanist photographers the likes of Doisneau and Janice Neipce turned the Wallace fountain into a symbol of working-class Paris.

The Wallace fountain is a defining feature of Paris’ identity. Its elegant shape tells us immediately that we are in the capital. Although most of them are in the same green colour as 19 ^th  century Parisian street furniture, intended to imitate nature, some have exceptionally been painted in other colours - blue, pink, yellow or red - in the 13 ^th  and 20 ^th  arrondissements. As a work of art and functional object serving the public good, it is one of the symbols to have been celebrated on a stamp issued in 2001.

I swear I’ll drink every drop of water in the Wallace fountains If right here and now you are not knocked out by the grace.

Excerpt from Georges Brassens’ song, Le Bistrot, 1960

In addition to the 108 Wallace fountains, there are many other public fountains (1,200) and drinking water points around the city enabling everyone to drink freely. The water that flows from them, of an excellent quality, is the same as the water supplied to people’s homes, direct from the city’s drinking water system. Depending on the neighbourhood, consumers benefit from a combination of groundwater and purified water from rivers whose springs lie more than 100 km from Paris. Just outside the city, before being distributed to buildings, the water is stored in five large reservoirs: Montsouris, Saint-Cloud, L’Haÿ-les-Roses, Les Lilas and Ménilmontant. Throughout Paris, the city’s water operator Eau de Paris is responsible for distributing water. This is monitored carefully round-the-clock. It can be fully traced. Three 3 million consumers are supplied with safe drinking water every day.

The tin cups that were for a long time fastened to the Wallace fountain now are being replaced with personal water bottles or portable cups. Drinking tap or fountain water is, on average, 300 times cheaper than buying bottled water. Moreover, by drinking water without any packaging, we can reduce our waste by 7 kg per year, per person. Single-use plastic bottles pollute the rivers and oceans, and in 2024, Paris will be the first city to have phased out their use. By taking action for zero plastic, Eau de Paris has already adopted solutions to replace around 1.5 million plastic bottles at the events it has been involved in between 2018 and 2019. Since 2021, the campaign Drink Paris water here encourages local shops and businesses to join the initiative by providing customers with access to free drinking water or by allowing them to fill up their water bottles or other containers by request.

As a symbol of universal access to free, clean water, other Wallace fountains have cropped up all over the world, including in South Africa, Brazil, Canada, China, Israel and Japan.

As the custodian and standard-bearer of this legacy, the City of Paris is continuing to promote access to clean water and sanitation in the most deprived countries in this regard. Few Parisians are aware that, by creating a “Solidarity, Water and Sanitation” scheme back in November 2005, Paris is one of the first French cities to have applied the Oudin-Santini law under which local authorities can devote up to 1 % of their water and sanitation budget towards funding international solidarity initiatives. Thanks to the contribution that Parisians make on their water bill, Paris has supported nearly 150 projects in 45 developing countries, for an amount approaching €14m, providing 4 million beneficiaries with access to basic services. Paris also leverages its technical expertise to strengthen the capacity of other cities around the world who are having to contend with the major challenges of water and sanitation. In a world experiencing strong demographic growth, preserving water resources of an adequate quantity and quality to enable everyone to access clean drinking water and to combat climate change and pollution, which are exacerbating its scarcity, are crucial challenges.

By designing the fountain bearing his name, Richard Wallace had provided all Parisians at the end of the 19 ^th  century with clean water for free. His remarkable generosity should inspire and require us to do all we can to tackle the water challenges of the 21 ^st  century.