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It’s full steam ahead at Longwood Gardens, where construction crews continue to restore and install $90 million worth of limestone, LED lights, fountain heads, and landscaping ahead of the May 27 re-opening of Main Fountain Garden.
The Main Fountain Garden has been closed to the public since October 2014, when construction began on what’s known as the New Heights Fountain Revitalization Project. It’s Longwood’s most expensive and biggest project to date in the garden’s 111-year history, and involved more than 3,000 workers, including Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners, Fluidity Design Consultants, West 8, and Bancroft Construction.
“There is an entire generation that have never seen this and have never experienced this,” said Longwood Gardens CEO Paul B. Redman. “And the great thing is that we have bought this to life again for future generations to see.”
Ahead of the May opening of the Main Fountain Garden, Curbed Philly went on a behind-the-scenes tour of the fountain, both above and below ground. Here’s a sneak peek of the project—90 percent of which the public will never actually see—in more than a dozen photos.
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Longwood had a new Grotto built as part of the Main Garden Fountain, meant to be a place of reflection and will feature four fountains, including one that falls from the ceiling.
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