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Centre Point fountains – now removed |
Backing for fountains’ move to Whitestone
Centre Point icons switch to Hampstead ‘a great idea’
THE campaign for the Centre Point fountains to be moved to Whitestone Pond has been backed by the owners of the West End tower block and the architects designing the new Cross Rail station at Tottenham Court Road.
Both Alan Howard, the owner of the 1960s structure, and Paul Williams, the lead architect drawing up plans for the new area around the tower, have backed a campaign to switch the fountains to the Hampstead pond.
The iconic, Grade II-listed fountains have been removed and are now being carefully stored after making way for Cross Rail.
Mr Williams’s firm, Stanton Williams, have released images of how the entrance to the Cross Rail station will look. On the site where the fountains sat, two wonky glass pyramids will be built. The designers’ blurb says they are “crystalline sculptural forms”.
Mr Williams said he believes proposals to move the fountains are plausible.
“They are clearly worth keeping, even if they couldn’t stay in their current position,” he added. “We would be happy to hear what people have to say about moving them.”
One of the ideas being mooted is to take the fountains to Whitestone Pond, and use them to pay tribute to the contribution emigrés have made to the Camden area. The fountains were the work of Jupp Dernbach-Mayen.
He was born in Germany in 1908 and fled to England in the early days of the Nazi regime. Dernbach-Mayen worked on a series of public art projects, producing friezes for the 1951 Festival of Britain and with Basil Spence on Coventry Cathedral.
He built the fountains in 1963 in his Swiss Cottage studio.
And with Hampstead providing a haven for so many people fleeing persecution in Europe, and Whitestone Pond currently the subject of a massive renovation project to spruce it up in time for the 2012 Olympics, it could be the perfect spot for the water feature.
Centre Point owners Target Follow say they are keen to see the fountains at Whitestone Pond.
Director Alan Howard said: “We have them in storage at the moment and we think Whitestone Pond is a great idea.”
He said it was not realistic for the fountains to go back to their original Centre Point location.
“We won’t get that site back for years,” added Mr Howard. “I’d rather see them at Whitestone Pond sooner, so they are not forgotten about.
“We vow to help and support this idea in any way we can. Cross Rail has taken the area where they used to sit and we don’t think it will be accessible for years.” |
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