Briarcliff Hilltop Fountain

Location:  Briarcliff Hilltop, 1251 NW Briarcliff Parkway, Kansas City, MO

Found:  April 14, 2016

In the Briarcliff area of Riverside is this fountain.  It is in front of and along the entrance to the area with the Courtyard Hotel and the Briarcliff Hilltop Office Building.

The water comes out the top and into the top basin and then into the middle basin and down into the pool.  Around the bottom are three seated women in different poses.  In between each pair of women, there is a lion’s head that has water coming out of its mouth down into the seashell below it.  The outside of the pool has a repeating pattern on it.

Goddess of the Spring

Location:  Mission Drive and West 55th Street, Mission Hills, KS

Found:  June 28, 2015

Across the street from the Mission Hills Country Club and Golf Course on a traffic island at the intersection of Mission Drive and West 55th sits the Goddess of the Spring.  The goddess looks to be carrying items on or in a large seashell while standing on an even larger shell.  The water comes out of that shell and falls into the pool below.  Flowers, shrubs and small trees surround the fountain.  The goddess keeps an eye on the golf course across the street.

I have been told that this fountain is named Goddess of the Spring but I have been unable so far to find anything to verify that so that is the name I am going with.  Should I ever find different, I will change the name.

The Nymph

Location:  West 69th Terrace and State Line Road, Mission Hills, KS

Found:  April 5, 2015

This sculpture by Raffaelo Romanelli was purchased and placed in 1963 and originally meant to be fountain.  However, the water features were never installed and it became just a sculptural piece.

You can see how the water features would have taken shape.  The face right underneath the nymph looks like where the water would have come out and gone down into the basin below with another face keeping an eye on the drain.

The Nymph herself sits up top.  The nude figure has definitely seen better days as it looks like the elements have not been too kind to her.  Her left arm looks to have been repaired and she is missing most of her feet.

The sculpture is located in the middle of a traffic island at West 69th Terrace on the Kansas side of State Line Road.  She is at the center of the island and is the focal point for a small park.  I took the pictures in early spring when the foliage had not yet bloomed out.  I have driven past here many times and in the summer it is very green and lush.  Perhaps I will go back in the summer and take more pictures and update this post.

Beaumont Fountain at Chateau Avalon

Location:  Chateau Avalon, 701 Village West Parkway, Kansas City, KS

Found:  June 25, 2014

The Beaumont Fountain is named after its creator, Steve Beaumont, who also created the Chateau Avalon luxury hotel.  It is inspired by the Fontaine De Mers at Palace de Concorde in Paris, France.  At 29 feet tall and 48 feet in diameter, it is the largest structural fountain in the Kansas City area.  It boasts colored LED lighting at night.  The fountain is made up of mythological figures on both levels.  Water starts at the very top and cascades down.  The figures around the outside of the lower basin are mer-people and are each hold a fish that shoots a stream of water up toward the second level.  There are benches and tables surrounding the fountain and it is located in a traffic island in front on the hotel.

Muse of the Missouri

Location:  Main Street between 8th Street and 9th Street, Kansas City, MO

Found:  April 20, 2014

AKA David Woods Kemper Memorial Fountain

The Muse of the Missouri sits in the median of Main Street between 8th and 9th Streets in downtown Kansas City.  The sculpture is of a goddess giving her interest and guidance on the Missouri River.  The fish were meant to be of species native to the Missouri River but the artist found catfish too ugly and carp unworkable so he created hybrids with carp bodies and bluefish heads.

There are 200 spouts of water, including the fish on the sculpture, in the fountain.  Water works its way down from the sculpture into the basins below and going from the highest basin to the lowest.  The fountain is dedicatd to David Woods Kemper, who was killed in Europe during the last days of World War II.

Pomona Fountain

Location:  340 Ward Parkway, Country Club Plaza, Kansas City, MO

Found:  July 20, 2013

The Pomona Fountain at the corner of Ward Parkway and Broadway in Country Club Plaza in front of the Seasons 52 restaurant.  It sits in one of the five courtyards on the Plaza.

September 2, 2013 – Removed old pictures.  Added new pictures.

Diana

Location:  Intercontinental Hotel, 401 Ward Parkway, Country Club Plaza, Kansas City, MO

Found:  July 20, 2013 (original), May 12, 2016 (update)

Sculpture of Diana surrounded by cherubs sits in a pool in front of a waterfall.  According to the plaque this is one of only two castings of this sculpture and the only one in bronze.  It is a very detailed sculpture.  It even features Diana’s bow laying beside her.

The waterfall measures 17 feet tall and 56 feet across.  Fountain is in front of the Intercontinental Hotel at the corner of Ward Parkway and Wornall Road across Brush Creek from the Plaza.

This post has been updated with new pictures.  The pictures that had been on this post had been taken in the morning which put the sculpture and waterfall in shadow.  These new pictures were taken in the afternoon and everything shows up much better.