Buckingham Fountain

Buckingham Fountain, formally known as the Clarence F. Buckingham Memorial Fountain, is one of Chicago’s best-known landmarks and the monumental centrepiece of Grant Park. Located near the lakefront at 301 South Columbus Drive, the fountain was donated to the city by art patron and philanthropist Kate Sturges Buckingham in memory of her brother Clarence Buckingham. Architect Edward H. Bennett, who had worked with Daniel Burnham on the influential Plan of Chicago, designed the fountain, while French sculptor Marcel François Loyau created its bronze sea-horse figures and other sculptural elements. It opened to the public on 26 May 1927 and was formally dedicated that August. Inspired by the Latona Fountain at the Palace of Versailles but built on a considerably larger scale, its design represents Lake Michigan, with four groups of sea horses symbolising Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin, the four states bordering the lake. The fountain holds around 1.5 million gallons of water, and during its major display the central jet rises approximately 150 feet into the air. Evening illumination was part of the original concept, with Kate Buckingham specifically wanting the lighting to resemble soft moonlight. The fountain is a designated Chicago Landmark and remains one of the most immediately recognisable sights along the city’s lakefront.

Buckingham Fountain has appeared in Undertow (1949), National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983), Crime Story (1986–1988), Married… with Children (1987–1997), ER (1994–2009), Love Jones (1997), Return to Me (2000), The Chicago Code (2011), Chicago Fire (2012–) and Chicago P.D. (2014–). Its screen roles range from little more than an unmistakable Chicago landmark flashing past during a journey to a genuine dramatic setting for murders, secret meetings and romantic dates. It also became particularly familiar to television audiences through the opening credits of Married… with Children (1987–1997) and Crime Story (1986–1988), both of which used the fountain to immediately establish Chicago as their setting.

In Undertow (1949), Buckingham Fountain is used twice as a discreet meeting place for Tony Reagan and Sally Lee. Tony has returned to Chicago after years away and is warned by the police to leave again because of his troubled history with racketeer Big Jim Lee, Sally’s uncle and guardian. After shaking the detective assigned to follow him, Tony secretly meets Sally at the fountain. She wants them to elope rather than confront Big Jim, who has forbidden their relationship, but Tony insists on speaking to him and explaining that he has left his criminal past behind. Things quickly go wrong when Big Jim is murdered and Tony is framed for the crime. While hiding from the police, Tony later arranges another meeting with Sally at Buckingham Fountain and questions her about who might have wanted her uncle dead, unaware that Sally herself is involved in the conspiracy against him. The fountain is therefore more than an establishing landmark in the film, becoming a recurring location at two important stages of Tony’s increasingly desperate return to Chicago.

In National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983), Buckingham Fountain appears near the beginning of the Griswold family’s disastrous cross-country journey from suburban Chicago to the fictional Walley World amusement park in California. Shortly after Clark, Ellen, Rusty and Audrey set off in their new Wagon Queen Family Truckster, the car is seen driving past Buckingham Fountain as they leave Chicago behind. It is only a brief shot, but the fountain and surrounding skyline clearly establish where the Griswolds’ journey begins before the film moves out onto the open road and the succession of mishaps that follows. Interestingly, footage from this same early Chicago section of the film would later be reused in the opening credits of Married… with Children.

In Crime Story (1986–1988), Buckingham Fountain appears as part of the series’ opening title sequence. Created by Chuck Adamson and Gustave Reininger and executive-produced by Michael Mann, the crime drama begins in early-1960s Chicago and follows police lieutenant Mike Torello in his increasingly personal battle with organised-crime figure Ray Luca. Rather than representing a particular story location, Buckingham Fountain is used among the recognisable Chicago imagery that introduces the world of the series, helping establish the city before the story eventually expands beyond Chicago to Las Vegas and other locations.

In Married… with Children (1987–1997), Buckingham Fountain became one of the sitcom’s most familiar images despite the series itself being produced largely in California. The standard opening credits begin with the fountain springing into action as Frank Sinatra’s “Love and Marriage” starts playing, immediately establishing Chicago as the home of Al Bundy and his family. The fountain also becomes the punchline to one of the show’s better visual gags in the season-three episode “A Dump of My Own” (1989). Al has spent the episode fulfilling his dream of constructing a private bathroom in the garage, centred around an enormously powerful Ferguson toilet. When he finally uses his creation and flushes it, the scene cuts to Buckingham Fountain, where the water suddenly drops, jokingly suggesting that Al’s toilet has drained the city’s famous fountain to supply its monumental flush.

In ER (1994–2009), Buckingham Fountain appears at the beginning of the season-eleven episode “An Intern’s Guide to the Galaxy” (2004). Neela Rasgotra is seen jogging past the fountain before returning to work at County General, providing one of the series’ relatively occasional scenes filmed at an immediately recognisable Chicago landmark rather than on its standing Los Angeles sets. Back at the hospital, Neela joins fellow first-year interns Abby Lockhart and Ray Barnett as Greg Pratt challenges them to move patients through the emergency department more quickly. The brief running scene does not have a major dramatic function, but it places Neela firmly in the real Chicago surrounding the fictional hospital and gives the episode an unmistakable local opening.

In Love Jones (1997), Buckingham Fountain provides a particularly atmospheric backdrop for Darius Lovehall and Nina Mosley as their relationship develops. After an evening of dancing, the pair walk together past the fountain, with Darius still playfully moving to the music as they talk. The sequence was filmed in unusually heavy fog rolling in from Lake Michigan, surrounding the illuminated fountain and the couple with a mist that gives the scene a dreamy quality remarkably well suited to the film’s romantic tone. The fog was not a planned effect: delays had pushed filming later into the year, and the weather happened to provide the production with one of the film’s most memorable visual moments. Buckingham Fountain is one of several real Chicago locations that help make the city itself an important part of Darius and Nina’s story rather than simply an anonymous urban backdrop.

In Return to Me (2000), Buckingham Fountain appears during a date between Bob Rueland and Grace Briggs as their initially awkward friendship develops into a romance. Bob is a widowed architect still struggling with the death of his wife Elizabeth, while Grace has recently received a heart transplant without knowing that her donor was Elizabeth. Neither is yet aware of the extraordinary connection between them as they begin spending more time together. During one of their evenings out, Bob and Grace stop beside the illuminated fountain and talk before their date continues to the rooftop of one of Bob’s buildings, overlooking the Chicago River and city skyline. The fountain fits naturally into a film that makes unusually affectionate use of Chicago, providing another romantic setting while Bob and Grace grow closer before the truth about Grace’s transplanted heart threatens their relationship.

In The Chicago Code (2011), Buckingham Fountain becomes the setting for a murder investigation in the series premiere. Veteran detective Jarek Wysocki has just been partnered with the younger Caleb Evers when the pair are called to Grant Park, where two people have been murdered beside the fountain. The investigation forms part of the pilot’s introduction to Wysocki and his unconventional way of working, while elsewhere his former partner, newly appointed police superintendent Teresa Colvin, begins her attempt to take down corrupt alderman Ronin Gibbons. Using Buckingham Fountain as an actual crime scene rather than simply an establishing shot immediately grounds the series in Chicago: one of the city’s most postcard-friendly landmarks becomes part of the police work taking place beneath the surface of the city.

In Chicago Fire (2012–), Buckingham Fountain has been used for several scenes away from Firehouse 51. In the season-one episode “Retaliation Hit” (2013), Kelly Severide meets Tara Little on the west side of the fountain after she has accused him of sexual assault. Tara tells Severide that Internal Affairs is pressuring her to make the matter a criminal case and offers him another way out: if he apologises on record, she will not pursue the accusation further. Severide, adamant that he has done nothing wrong, refuses and angrily walks away. The fountain returns in the season-three episode “Nobody Touches Anything” (2014), when paramedics Peter Mills and Sylvie Brett stop for coffee nearby. Brett complains that the physical demands of the job are wearing her out and talks about the exercise routine she followed back home, eventually wondering whether she can find a Zumba class in Chicago. The seemingly casual conversation leads into a comic subplot in which she later discovers that firefighter Joe Cruz secretly teaches one of those classes.

In Chicago P.D. (2014–), Buckingham Fountain appears in the season-two finale “Born Into Bad News” (2015), when Alvin Olinsky meets Linda Sovana, a woman connected to one of his old undercover assignments. Years earlier, Olinsky had infiltrated a criminal organisation under the name Frank and developed a relationship with Linda while using her connection to her cousin to gain access to his targets. She eventually discovered that he had been an undercover police officer and that he was married. Their meeting beside Buckingham Fountain brings that uncomfortable past back into Olinsky’s life after many years. The reason for Linda’s sudden reappearance becomes clear later in the episode when her teenage daughter Michelle telephones Olinsky from juvenile detention and tells him that Linda has given her his number. She then delivers the revelation Olinsky was not expecting: she believes that he is her father.

---