Andrew Handyside who made Friargate bridge in Derby were famous for their high quality decorative and memorial fountains, here is one such example in New York. This Handyside fountain is located in Congress Park, Saratoga Springs, New York, USA.
I would like to thank to Phil Steffen (Artist for the City of Saratoga Springs) for getting in touch about this fountain during the restoration back in 2018.
The Deer Park Spring, originally known as the Fresh Water Spring, was made into a fountain in 1876 when the Congress and Empire Spring Water Company improved the southern end of Congress Park. At that time, the pond and surrounding area included an enclosed fence where tame deer were kept, hence the name of this part of the park as "the deer park".
The date on the fountain is 1873 commemorating the spring but the fountain was installed June 7th 1876, here is a colourised photograph from 1873 :
Looking at photographs of this fountain taken April 2026 it looks like it needs some TLC as its covered in limescale and rust which is a real shame :
This fountain is design Number 48 in Catalogue C Handyside Fountains and vases Handysides ironwork catalogue published 1873 :
This exact fountain design is also in :
Alexandra Park, Whalley Range, Manchester, UK.
Geelong, Victoria, Australia.
St Pancras old church gardens, London, UK.
The fountain was restored in 2018. Saratoga Springs, NY – Department of Public Works Commissioner Anthony, "Skip" Scirocco announced restorations to the Deer Park Spring in Congress Park at a small ceremony on Friday, June 15, 2018. DPW performed in house repairs on the restoration of the fountain, and worked with the Saratoga Springs History Museum to research the history of the spring.
Deer Park Spring was originally called the "Fresh Water Spring", when it was established by the Congress and Empire Spring Water Company in 1876 during improvements to the southern end of Congress Park. At that point in time that area of the park had an enclosed fence where tame deer were kept, lending to the future name of this spring being the Deer Park Spring.
At the time of installation, the June 7 1876 Daily Saratogian explained why the fountain came from Handysides, "no work of superior character, it is said, is done in this country".
The fountain was taken apart piece by piece last fall and moved to the DPW facility for restoration this spring. The fountain was cleaned, missing pieces were fabricated, and internal plumbing was updated. DPW spent time researching the history and the status of similar fountains.
We also restored the pouring spouts to be similar to what could be made out in historical photos. While researching what colours to repaint the fountain, a Saratogian article from May 20, 1912 described how Park Commissioner Allerdice explained that “green and white” were becoming the prominent colors of the park. The paint system included a durable primer, an epoxy coat, followed by a urethane coat.
"I have to admit that the paint job came out incredible. DPW also saw this as an opportunity to clean up the landscaping around the fountain, we added a round concrete base, boxwood bushes, geraniums in the planters and a new informational plaque", Scirocco explained.
Map location for this fountain :
https://maps.app.goo.gl/aswhFVMdr8Nw8jTc6
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If you know of any items (apart from Post boxes) in the world bearing the Andrew Handyside badge that I have not marked on my world map then please let me know.
My Andrew Handyside world map :
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?hl=en&mid=1OAACWtSS9PyrJqZ5Ebpy1yb527nkRFk7&ll=52.90829433369387%2C-1.4515525777722327&z=10
My Andrew Handyside Facebook group :
https://www.facebook.com/groups/andrewhandyside
My Andrew Handyside Flickr group :
https://www.flickr.com/groups/1531851@N22/
My Andrew Handyside video playlist :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL6EmDnqQPU&list=PLA6EB1C556ABA75AF
Thanks
Andy
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