J. W. Fiske Company Fountain

The fountain currently located at 42 Flood Circle in the Lindenwood neighborhood of Atherton, California, was originally created for the opulent Gilded Age mansion known as Linden Towers. Built in 1878 as the home of silver baron James C. Flood and his family, the estate featured lavish landscaped grounds. As part of this setting, the J. W. Fiske Company—widely known for its ornamental ironwork and garden features—was commissioned in 1878 to fabricate a monumental fountain. Constructed of cast iron and zinc, the fountain measured approximately 20 feet in height and 24 feet in diameter and featured a water nymph at the top, surrounded by four seated maidens.

After the Flood family’s ownership, the immense property became too costly to maintain and was demolished in the mid-1930s to make way for a residential development known as Lindenwood Estates. Although the mansion was removed, several site features—including the fountain, urns, street lamps, and benches—were left in place. Rather than removing these elements, residents retained them as tangible reminders of the site’s historic past. In the early 2000s when the property came up for sale, Marion Oster, the town’s leading preservationist, and her husband purchased 42 Flood Circle in order to save the fountain from being destroyed.

In September 2016 EverGreene was retained by the the Oster Family to perform a detailed conditions assessment of the J. W. Fiske Company Fountain. Work was performed to determine the nature and cause of the failure of the fountain’s components, make recommendations for treatments, and provide cost estimate for future repair. The fountain elements exhibited heavy deposits of minerals, soiling, iron staining, coating failure, and localized breaks and deformations.

EverGreene returned in 2017 to remove and treat the fountain based on the findings of the conditions assessment from the previous year. Work included:

• Removal of the components to our work facility in Maryland
• Perform a paint investigation to determine original scheme and provide a suitable color match for restoration
• Removal of existing coatings
• Perform repairs to the cast iron, including but not limited to welding fractures, infilling of corrosion pitting, and infilling of large losses
• Replicate missing cast iron components
• Perform repairs to the zinc figures, including but not limited to creating new custom bases for the seated figures, soldering of fractured elements, and creation of new structural supports
• Passivate soluble chloride salts
• Application of protective and aesthetic coatings
• Design and installation of new plumbing mechanisms
• Design and installation of a screen for the fountain basin to prevent debris from collecting and minimize maintenance.
• Reinstallation of the fountain