Last month, Finegold Alexader's restoration of the McKim Fountain was featured in the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Preservation Magazine! The article highlighted six fountains across the U.S., including the McKim fountain.

Originally constructed between 1888 and 1895, the McKim building of the Boston Public library featured a central courtyard with a simple, single-jet spray fountain. In 2021, Finegold Alexander restored the fountain and improved the water basin, waterproofing, and plumbing and lighting design.

Check out the full article here: The Shape of Water: Six Historic American Fountains | National Trust for Historic Preservation

Below is the portion of the article that featured the McKim Fountain.

Farther north, a restoration of the Boston Public Library courtyard fountain was completed in 2021. The project included replacing tiles damaged by freezing and thawing water, and updating the plumbing and lighting. The fountain remains the centerpiece of the library’s open plaza, an oasis in the bustling city.

During the work, the bronze sculpture at the fountain’s center, Frederick William MacMonnies’ Bacchante and Infant Faun, had to be lifted out by crane—not the first time it was removed. An 1896 gift from the sculptor to the building’s architect, Charles Follen McKim, the piece features a nude pagan reveler holding a baby in her left arm and dangling grapes from her right hand. After a public outcry over the figure’s nudity and perceived portrayal of immoral behavior, the sculpture was given to New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. More than a century later, during the 1990s, the library made a copy and returned Bacchante to her original watery perch.

“In the courtyard, with this beautiful fountain in the middle, the sound of the water is so peaceful,” says Finegold Alexander Architects Principal Ellen Anselone, who oversaw the 2021 project. “And then at night, when the lights are on, it’s gorgeous.”