THE WALLACE FOUNTAINS OF PARIS : CAST-IRON CHARITY IN THE CITY OF LIGHT
In Paris, the small dark-green fountains with four caryatids are as much a part of the streetscape as Haussmann’s boulevards or Morris columns. Yet behind their familiar silhouette lies a Victorian story of war, philanthropy, and public health. Commissioned in 1872 by the British art collector Sir Richard Wallace, over 100 of these cast-iron fountains still give free drinking water to Parisians and visitors alike. Though most remain the original British Racing Green, a handful have different colour including the striking red fountain on Avenue d’Ivry. Here is their story.
A Philanthropist’s Response to the Siege of Paris
The Wallace fountains were born from crisis. During the 1870–71 Franco-Prussian War and the Siege of Paris, the city’s aqueducts were damaged and water became scarce. The poor suffered most, often forced to buy expensive wine because clean water was unavailable. Richard Wallace, heir to the Marquess of Hertford’s fortune and a resident of Paris, funded 50 drinking fountains for the city. His brief to the sculptor Charles-Auguste Lebourg was clear: make them beautiful, robust, inexpensive, and useful.
The first was installed on Boulevard de la Villette in August 1872. Wallace’s gift was deliberately civic rather than commemorative ; no plaques bearing his name were required. The fountains were to be “at the will of the public”, placed in squares and at busy crossroads by Eugène Belgrand, the city’s hydraulic engineer under Haussmann. Today, there are 108 in Paris, and they run from mid-March to mid-November.
Anatomy of an Icon: The Four Models
Not all Wallace fountains are identical. Four main models were cast by the Val d’Osne foundry:
(1)Large model: 2.71 m tall, 610 kg.
The most famous. Four caryatids support a pointed dome decorated with dolphins. The women represent Kindness, Simplicity, Charity and Sobriety : virtues Wallace thought necessary after the Commune. They also embody the four seasons.
(2) Wall-mounted model:
A half-fountain fixed to buildings, used where pavement space was tight.
(3) Small model:
1.32 m, push-button, found in parks and gardens. Familiar to Parisian parents and children.
(4) Colonnade model:
Cheaper to produce, the caryatids replaced by columns. Only two survive: Rue de Rémusat and Avenue des Ternes.
All were cast iron for durability and painted dark green : unobtrusive, practical, and distinctly Parisian. Tin cups once hung on chains for communal use, were removed for hygiene reasons in the 1950s.
From British Racing Green to Parisian Rainbow
For a century, green was law. But since the 2000s, the Mairie de Paris has allowed colour variations in the 13th arrondissement to reflect the neighbourhood’s character. The district’s Chinatown and street-art culture made it the canvas for a quiet rebellion.
The most photographed is the large model painted red on Avenue d’Ivry*, in the Les Olympiades quarter. It sits in Paris’s Chinatown, and red was likely chosen as an auspicious colour in Chinese culture. This is almost certainly the “red fountain of Yanf feres” the user refers to — “Yanf feres” appears to be a mishearing or misspelling of “Avenue d’Ivry” or possibly “Olympiades/Chinatown”. There is no fountain officially named for a “Yan Feres” in Paris. The red Avenue d’Ivry fountain is well documented by photographers and the St. Olaf College photo contest.
Other colours exist: shocking pink on Rue Jean-Anouilh, yellow on Esplanade Pierre-Vidal-Naquet near the Bibliotheque Francois Mitterrand, and blue on Rue Brillat-Savarin. Tourists now treat them as a “treasure hunt”. A white one briefly appeared in the 3rd arrondissement but was repainted green.
The colour change doesn’t alter function , they still provide free, clean drinking water. But it does shift meaning. Green says “heritage”. Red, pink, yellow say “this neighbourhood is alive”.
Placement, Politics, and Public Life
Belgrand’s rule was simple: put them where people are thirsty. That meant markets, squares, intersections, and near schools. You’ll find one by Shakespeare and Company, another on Pont Neuf, and several along the Canal Saint-Martin.
Their placement reveals 19th-century Parisian politics. Haussmann had rebuilt Paris for air and light, but water for the poor was still an afterthought. Wallace’s fountains plugged that gap without shaming the state , private charity doing public work. Maintained by Eau de Paris, each fountain is marked with the Paris seal.
They’ve also become social objects. During Bastille Day 1911, crowds drank directly from them. In 2026, TripAdvisor reviewers still call them “quintessentially Parisian”. For street photographers, the red Avenue d’Ivry fountain against tower blocks and Asian shop signs has become an icon of multicultural Paris.
Free, Safe Drinking Water for All
The most enduring achievement of the Wallace fountains is not aesthetic but practical: they still deliver free, potable water. Maintained by Eau de Paris, the municipal water company, each fountain is connected to the mains and checked regularly for quality. The water is the same as that from Parisian taps : cool, treated, and perfectly safe to drink. In an era of plastic bottles and €3 mineral water, the fountains remain a quietly radical gesture. Tin cups on chains disappeared in the 1950s for hygiene, but the principle endures: no one should have to pay for a basic human need. During heatwaves, the city promotes the fountains as public-health infrastructure, and signs reading 'Eau Potable' reassure visitors. Sir Richard Wallace’s 19th-century fix for cholera is now part of Paris’s climate adaptation plan.
What began as charity has become iconography. The dark-green caryatids feature in guidebooks, Instagram reels, and French-language textbooks. Tourists hunt them as if they were Pokémon: the classic large model by Shakespeare and Company, the rare colonnade version on Avenue des Ternes, and the photogenic outliers in the 13th. The red fountain on Avenue d’Ivry is now a destination in itself — framed by tower blocks and Chinese shop fronts, it captures the layered Paris of 2026 far better than the Eiffel Tower. Walking-tour companies run “Wallace hunts” in Belleville and Chinatown, and the fountains appear on postcards, tea towels, and enamel pins. Wallace wanted utility, but Paris has added mythology. The fountains are proof that public infrastructure, when done with artistry, becomes culture.
Where to Find Them
You are never far from a Wallace in central Paris. The highest concentration is in the 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th and 11th arrondissements — think Place Saint-Michel, Pont Neuf, the Jardin des Plantes, and Place de la République. The small push-button versions cluster in playgrounds and squares: Luxembourg Gardens, Parc Monceau, Square du Temple. If you want the colour variants, head to the 13th: red on Avenue d’Ivry near the Olympiades metro, pink on Rue Jean-Anouilh by the BnF, yellow on Esplanade Pierre-Vidal-Naquet, and blue on Rue Brillat-Savarin. Two colonnade survivors remain at Rue de Rémusat in the 16th and Avenue des Ternes in the 17th. Eau de Paris even publishes an interactive map, but part of the charm is stumbling across one , green or red when you’re thirsty.
Legacy: More Than Street Furniture
The Wallace fountain is now shorthand for Parisian public good. It inspired copies worldwide, from Lisbon to New Orleans. Yet its real legacy is philosophical: beauty and utility need not be separate. Lebourg’s caryatids make a water tap into sculpture. Wallace proved philanthropy could be anonymous and still effective.
I saw a beautiful red fountain outside Tang Feres Asian Store on Avenue d’Ivry when I went to buy some Lotus roots and collard greens .The fountain is still functional, same cast, same water, same virtues. The red paint doesn’t erase Kindness or Charity; it translates them for a new Paris.
So when you next see one, green or red, pause. The water is free, the cast iron is 150 years old, and the idea ; that a city should give its people clean water with dignity , is still radical.
( Avtar Mota )
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