Ok, I might be stretching the term ‘edifice’, but neighbor Todd Woodson and Richard Lee Bland have been sharing some research on the fountain in Monroe Park on the FaceBook group Fans of Monroe Park.

Todd cited this passage:

“In 1872, Colonel Albert Ordway, Provost Marshal for Virginia (who lived close to the park) donated the park’s first fountain, built of stone, but city council rejected a petition from the “citizens near Monroe Park” for $2,500 in additional improvements. The requested improvements included a brick wall about two feet high around the park to prevent the embankment from washing on the pavement, granite post and chain to enclose the fountain, twenty iron seats, granite steps at the gates and for putting up the fountain donated by Colonel Ordway”.
From The Ghosts and Glories of Monroe Park- a Sesquicentennial History by David M. Clinger 1998.

Now quoting and paraphrasing Richard Lee Bland:

The history of (a later) fountain is very sketchy. Mary Wingfield Scott fixed the date of its appearance in the park in 1908. This stone pyramid precede but no dates to confirm.. In 1896 the original memorial to Jefferson Davis was intended to be at the park, a large colossal temple. The cornerstone was laid, but the project was abandoned. The 1970 article at the collapse states, “the fountain’s original upper tiers, which broke off many years ago, were replaced by new ones during a 1961 renovation.” Memories are both short and imperfect. I will comment the 1908 date is interesting due a four tier fountain once stood in Gamble’s Hill Park, overlooking the James River, now owned by Ethel Corporation.

The theory is that the Gamble’s Hill fountain was moved to Monroe Park in 1908 and that is the one there now. Here is a 1962 News Leader newspaper clipping where Mary Winfield Scott made that observation:

An old photo of the fountain at Gamble’s Hill near Pratt’s Castle.

Here is an old painting of the fountain in Monroe Park that is in the Special Collections at the VCU library:

So, in terms of present edifices, an old and persistent hoarder has started to create a pile in Monroe Park. This woman is infamous for having done the same sort of thing in the Fan and Oregon Hill previously.

This adds on to the current perception that the City and Monroe Park Conservancy are not being adequate stewards to historic Monroe Park. Still, young people continue to flock to Monroe Park to play Pokemon.