BMC’s restoration of Fitzgerald Fountain gets attention in UK for its artistic finesse

Mumbai: The restoration work of 155-year-old Fitzgerald Fountain at Metro Junction, Marine Lines by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has inspired a couple living in the United Kingdom (UK) to educate their local authorities to repair an identical cast-iron fountain in Northampton that was dismantled in the 1960s.

The couple- Arun Kotnis and his wife Jyotsna (who uses Jona as her pen-name) has written a book, ‘The Tale of Two Fountains Made in Northampton’ to tell the people of Northampton the story about how an identical cast-iron fountain was restored by the Mumbai civic body. The final chapter of the book, ‘Return of the Fitzgerald Fountain, Mumbai’ tells the story about restoration works.

The Fitzgerald Fountain was constructed in 1867 at the Eagle Foundry in Northampton and was brought to Mumbai (then Bombay) via ship and was installed at the Metro Junction in South Mumbai. Later, during the 1960s, the fountain was dismantled and was relocated inside the premises of Bhau Daji Lad Museum in Byculla where it was reengineered haphazardly and many of its parts got misplaced or lost during the process.

It was only in 2018, the BMC Heritage Cell decided to restore the structure and in May 2021, the restored fountain was placed at the Metro Junction again.

Meanwhile, it has been revealed that an identical structure known as the Isaac Fountain existed at the Northampton Market Square during the 1860s. This fountain was constructed in the same Northampton foundry where the Fitzgerald Fountain was constructed.

According to Arun Kotnis, who is a town planner, based at Northampton, the Isaac Fountain was installed at the Northampton Market Square in 1863 and was known as the twin of the Fitzgerald Fountain. Kotnis said that the Isaac fountain was dismantled in 1962 and since then it was never restored.

“One of our primary objective behind this book is to showcase the efforts put down by the Heritage Cell so that it can inspire the local administration and citizens in Northampton and make them believe that if the BMC can do it then we can also work towards reengineering the Isaac Fountain of Northampton as well,” Arun told HT. He said that during the 1980s while working for the local authority in Northampton, he designed the Market Square Refurbishment project. During this assignment he got to know that an identical Fitzgerald like fountain existed in the Market Square area. “Old plans clearly showed the location of the Isaac Fountain and we also came across many old newspapers and photographs which showed the existence of the fountain. The Isaac fountain was installed in 1863 and was taken down during 1962 after local authorities thought that the structure could be dangerous as it got rusted throughout the year,” Arun said.

Jyotsna said that since then they started their research on the two fountains and discovered several links between India and Northampton. She said that every time they visited India, they tried to locate the Fitzgerald Fountain and it was only in 1996 they discovered it inside the premises of Byculla Museum.

“Even though the fountain was there in a dismantled condition, we could figure that the design was completely identical. During our research we also found out that both the fountains were designed and created by the same sculptor — William Atkinson,” shared Jyotsna.

The couple said that similar to the fate of Fitzgerald Fountain, some parts of Isaac Fountain have been preserved inside the Abington Park Museum in Northampton. Some of the parts include Copper Globe, Dedication Plaque, Tazza and Northampton Borough Council crest. “It has been six weeks since we have released our book. We have handed out complimentary copies to some of the important dignitaries and we are hopeful that after learning about the history and Heritage Cell’s effort the locals and authorities may start a process towards reengineering the Isaac Fountain with a similar heritage look,” said the couple.

Sanjay Sawant, executive engineer and incharge of the Heritage Cell in Mumbai said that it is inspiring for both himself and his team that their work got recognised internationally. “After the network of tramways started to get expanded in the city, the fountain created a hindrance for traffic movement, which is why it was relocated back then,” said Sawant.

Assistant engineer from the cell Sanjay Adhav shared, “Restoring the object was a challenging task, we had to carry out chemical analysis of the structure in metallurgical labs to create replicas of the missing pieces in the structure.”

The BMC had also hired conservation architect Pankaj Joshi as a consultant and sculptor Deepak Paunikar for the restoration project.