Thursday, September 9, 2010

Queen Victoria Fountain relocated

Early morning on Sept.9, 2010, the Queen Victoria Fountain was moved from its location in front of the Niagara Falls Lundy's Lane Museum, which is undergoing a large scale renovation and addition.
The Queen Victoria Fountain, built in 1901, was originally located at the north-west corner of Lundy's Lane and Portage Rd. (or, Ferry St. and Main St.!); it was moved from that corner to the museum site in 1923, where it sat until this morning, when it was moved to the parking lot behind the museum construction site.
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below: Sept.3, 2010 - the fountain is seen at the far right; the museum (originally the Stamford Township Hall, built 1874) is covered up for repairs; note the stone wall along the sidewalk.
below: Sept.3, 2010 - looking at the Queen Victoria Fountain's north-east facing facade.

above: Sept.9, 2010 - same view, the fountain is gone.
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below: Sept.9, 2010 - the fountain stood at the bottom left, just in front of the yellow machine. Note that the stone wall along Ferry St., at the bottom far-left, has been removed, with some of the stone pieces still being gathered up off the sidewalk.
above: closer view of the stone wall along Ferry St., as seen earlier, on Sept.3, 2010.
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below: Sept.9, 2010 - the fountain now sits in the parking lot behind the museum. Note the Hilton hotel in the left distance. In the left rear is the flat-bed trailer of McCulloch Moving which hauled the monument from the museum; the monument weighed approx. 64,000 lbs, or just over 30 tons.

above: Sept.9, 2010 - looking at the relocated monument from the south; in the right distance can be seen the gable of the museum. To move the monument, the area around it was excavated, steel beams were bolted into the footings, and it was lifted out of the ground and onto the trailer by a crane - complete with its poured-concrete foundation, as can clearly be seen above. The above facade of the monument faced north-west when it had been in front of the museum.
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below: Sept.9, 2010 - looking at the monument from the west - in the left distance is the Casino (former Oneida, former Kodak) Tower.
This had been the north-east facade of the monument, when it sat in front of the museum, as seen in the second photo from the top in this post.

above: in the left-distance is the rear of the old Princess Theatre, which faces onto Main St.
The side of the monument at the right (the part with the horse drinking-trough) was the monument's south-west facing side when it was in front of the museum.
The side of the monument (where the black tablet is, at the center-left) had faced north-west along Ferry St. when it was in front of the museum - see same earlier view here.
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below: at the left, the side with the horse drinking-trough (as seen above) was the monument's south-west face when it had stood in front of the museum. The side with the below-grade-opening was the south-east face of the monument, when it sat in front of the mueum.
Also, at the very bottom of the concrete footing (beneath the yellow fence, right below where the letter 'C' in 'municipal' is) can be seen a part of a wooden board still embedded in the cement, which had been part of the 'new' formwork when the monument was first relocated in 1923!
above: Sept.9, 2010 - looking up inside of the monument - it's partially hollow! Some wooden wedges can be seen inside, with some wooden boards at the top.

For other historical photos of the Queen Victoria Fountain, see my earlier post here.
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