Forest Hills Fountain To Be Replaced By A Park

FOREST HILLS, QUEENS — A fountain at the center of a Forest Hills housing development will be demolished and replaced by a park, according to officials.

The feature in the the middle of the Parker Towers, at 104-20 Queens Blvd, is in the middle of a driveway outside three 22-story high rises. It has not been turned on for years, according to a Parker Towers spokesman.

The demolition began on June 13 and will take about two weeks, the spokesman said. The construction for a greenspace that will replace the fountain is set to begin in the coming weeks and will be completed within a few months.

Locals had opposing views on the demolition of the fountain.

One resident told DNAinfo that water from the fountain had been leaking into the garage directly beneath it since the '90s, which had caused paint damage to residents' cars.

However, Rego-Forest Preservation Council Founder Michael Perlman said the demolition of the fountain would deprive the neighborhood of its character.

"I feel that Parker Towers is engaging in a short-sighted decision to remove the fountain, which is a work of art and offers a tranquil feel among building facades that are mostly banal," Perlman said.

"At the time [when Parker Towers was completed], the fountain was called "The Fountain of Youth" and the centerpiece of its interior gardens, which was a beautiful symbol of the carefree way of life in the 1960s.

"It was a beacon not only for Parker Towers, but for our neighborhood, and offered an appealing, mid-century modern presence from Queens Boulevard. The management should have revised their plans and preserved and restored the fountain."

The management also removed a mature tree, which had been growing next to the fountain there for decades, Perlman said.

This story first appeared on DNAinfo

Lead image via Google Maps