Why you should experience the Josephine Shaw Lowell Memorial Fountain in Bryant Park of New York City.
The Josephine Shaw Lowell Memorial Fountain, informally known as the Bryant Park Fountain, is the park’s beating heart, a sculptural ode to grace and endurance amid the rush of Manhattan. Its pink granite basin glows softly in daylight and glistens like liquid amber at dusk, sending plumes of mist into the air that shimmer under the lights.
Standing beside it feels almost cinematic, the rhythm of water echoing against laughter, skate blades, and passing footsteps. It is both centerpiece and sanctuary, grounding the park’s energy with its perpetual flow. In summer, it refreshes; in winter, it freezes into a crystalline monument, embodying the paradox of New York itself, motion and stillness entwined.
What you didn’t know about the Josephine Shaw Lowell Memorial Fountain.
What you may not know is that this fountain was the city’s first memorial dedicated to a woman, Josephine Shaw Lowell, a reformer who championed social justice and women’s rights in the late 19th century.
Designed by architect Charles A. Platt in 1912, the fountain’s Art Deco flourishes evoke classical restraint rather than ostentation. Its inscription is subtle, its presence dignified, reflecting Lowell’s belief that compassion should be both public and permanent. Each winter, when the fountain’s surface ices over, it becomes an accidental sculpture, admired by photographers and skaters alike. Few realize that its underground mechanics still trace back to the original installation, a quiet triumph of early 20th-century engineering. Beneath the romance lies purpose, a reminder that beauty can carry moral weight.
How to fold the Josephine Shaw Lowell Memorial Fountain into your trip.
To fold the fountain into your visit, let it mark your pause between experiences, a place to breathe before diving back into the city’s rhythm.
Sit along its edge with a warm drink, watch the reflections of skyscrapers tremble across its surface, or linger at night when the water seems to glow from within. From here, every corner of Bryant Park radiates outward, the rink, the carousel, the Reading Room, all tethered by the steady heartbeat of this fountain, a symbol of both memory and renewal.
Hear it from the Foresyte community.
In summer it feels like the city’s living room, with people stretched out on the grass or sipping iced lattes at little cafe tables. Come winter, it’s all about the rink and holiday market. Basically turns into a rom-com set waiting for you to trip on skates and meet someone cute.
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