The Wallace Fountains

How one Englishman in Paris helped finance free drinking water for all

In 1871, Paris was in ruins. Besieged for four months during the Franco-Prussian War, buildings were hallowed shells of themselves, rubble lying in the streets. The Parisians were emaciated, resorting to eating whatever they could find. Even the city’s beloved pair of elephants, Castor and Pallux, stood no chance and were slaughtered for their meat.¹

The city’s women and children were the hardest hit, with the infant mortality rate skyrocketing. Many men would spend their days in the bistro, drinking, while the women were left to try and queue for whatever food they could find. Food prices were astronomical —although the city tried to implement price controls, it couldn’t control the black market. Soon after the siege ended, a civil war broke out, bringing more pain and misery to the city.

In the aftermath, alcoholism became rampant, especially among the poor. The bombing from the siege destroyed many aqueducts and sources of fresh water. While the rich often had access to wells and had been able to stock on provisions during the siege or leave the city, the poor often had to choose between paying a ridiculous amount for often unclean water or buying bread. Typhoid broke out, as many resorted to drinking the water from the Seine, which was also where the city’s sewers emptied. For many, wine was cheaper and safer and became a staple of a class hoping to escape the misery they found themselves in. It was not uncommon for children to be fed pieces of bread soaked in wine. (Emile Zolla’s novel “L’Assommoir” published in 1877 encapsulates perfectly the struggle that many poor Parisians faced)

During this dark time in Paris's history, an Englishman named Sir Richard Wallace decided he wanted to help the city’s poorest by providing free and safe drinking water for all. And it’s partly because of him that today, Paris is well known for its safe drinking water and public works system.

Who was Sir Richard Wallace?

Sir Richard Wallace was born Richard Jackson in London in 1881. Very little is known about his early life, including the identity of his parents. What we do know is that at the age of six he was taken to live with the Hertford family in Paris.

Although an Englishman by birth, Wallace spent most of his life in France. He worked for the Hertford family, serving as secretary to the fourth marquess and helping him amass a large art collection. At some point, he had himself baptized and changed his last name from Jackson to Wallace, the maiden name of the woman thought to be his mother.

In 1870, Lord Hertford died and to many’s surprise, left his vast fortune and impressive art collection to Wallace. Thus, the Englishman became known as Sir Richard Wallace. Soon after the city fell under siege. While Wallace had the means to escape the city, he decided to stay and spent much of his fortune helping the poor. He paid for ambulances, gave fuel vouchers to the poor, and helped create funds for those who needed shelter. He came to the aid of the British living in Paris at the time, about 4,000 people and became chairman of the British Charitable Foundation. In a year, he donated 2.5 million francs to help the city and its poor.

The misery that Wallace witnessed during the siege and the subsequent commune and civil unrest that followed caused him to leave Paris for good, taking his beloved art collection with him. But before he left, he had one parting gift for his beloved Parisians. Access to safe and reliable drinking water.

Sir Richard Wallace. Gouache.

Clean water for all

In 1871, Wallace designed a fountain that he hoped would be practical and beautiful. He enlisted the help of a friend, Charles-Auguste Lebourg, a sculptor from Nantes, to improve his sketches and turn them into works of art. Wallace wanted to make sure they were tall, could be seen from a distance, and were both practical and pleasing to the eye. The material needed to resist the elements and be easy to maintain and cost-effective so dozens could be installed across the city.

The result was a freestanding fountain. Four women stand on a column, lifting up a round roof that reflects the Parisian rooftops. While it might seem like each woman is the same, they are slightly different, with varying knees being bent or uncovered. Evoking the Greek muses, they are thought to represent the four seasons and have been named Kindness, Simplicity, Sobriety, and Charity.

Water flows from the top. Traditionally, there was a hook and chain with a cup attached to the fountain and Parisians could use the cup to drink from the fountain. The cups were removed in 1952 for health reasons. Since 2017 the city has installed a push button to dispense water, leaving the fountains dry when they are not in use.

Wallace paid for 40 of these free-standing models as well as 10 wall-mounted fountains. The free-standing models were very popular, with more installed throughout the city and surrounding suburbs.

While Wallace paid for the fountains, it was the city of Paris that decided where to install them. Eugène Belgrand, Director of Water and Sewers of Paris, became the man tasked with making sure the fountains had clean water. A hydraulic engineer, Belgrand helped create a new sewer system in the city that became a large tourist attraction (you can still visit the Paris sewers today)

A free-standing Wallace fountain. Gouache.

The Wallace fountains today

Today there are 106 Wallace fountains in Paris, all of which distribute drinking water. They generally operate from mid-March to late fall and are shut off in the winter to prevent freezing.

Thanks to Sir Wallace, Paris is famous for its drinking water. It is among the safest tap water in Europe, and many public fountains around the city ensure that no Parisian ever thirsts. In the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont you can even get eau gazeuse or sparkling water. And while the Wallace Fountains are mostly found in Paris, you can also find them elsewhere, including in the U.S.

A wall-mounted Wallace fountain. Gouache.

A big thanks to La Société Des Fountaines Wallace for their extensive research and information on the Wallace fountains. If you want to find out more about the fountains, including a map of where to find them all, check out their website.

À bientôt!

1. “Yesterday, I had a slice of Pollux for dinner. Pollux and his brother Castor are two elephants, which have been killed. It was tough, coarse, and oily, and I do not recommend English families to eat elephant as long as they can get beef or mutton.” Henry Labouchere, Diary of the Besieged Resident in Paris. Accessed at https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/19263/pg19263-images.html as of February 8, 2023.