29 Elegant Fountains That Create a Sense of Tranquillity
Photo: Roger Davies1/29Fountains, whether ornately tiled or designed with simplicity in mind, add both architectural intrigue and tranquillity to any garden—there’s something about the sound of burbling water that lulls the mind into a meditative state. From the English countryside to the desert of Palm Springs, California, these spaces from the AD archives showcase how incorporating the natural beauty of a Zen water feature can turn an outdoor area into a luxurious oasis.
Shown: A Moroccan-style fountain punctuates the grounds of Khloé Kardashian’s Calabasas, California, home, which was decorated by Martyn Lawrence Bullard.
Photo: Tim Beddow2/29On the grounds of decorator Anouska Hempel’s English residence, a garden fountain is encircled by Cotswold drystone walls.
Photo: Simon Upton3/29Low boxwood hedges surround an Andalusian-style fountain near the entrance of a California house by Madeline Stuart.
Photo: Nikolas Koenig4/29The courtyard’s fountain at decorator Emily Summers’s Palm Springs home was commissioned from Spanish sculptor Xavier Corberó and features one of his basalt statues; in the corner is a 1954 Willy Guhl loop chair.
Photo: Eric Piasecki5/29Behind the cabana of a Dutchess County, New York, farmhouse by G. P. Schafer Architect is the Fountain Garden, designed by Alexandra Kasmin; the granite basin is by Stone Structures, and the benches are by Munder-Skiles.
Photo: Scott Frances6/29Fashion designer Vince Camuto updated his New York home in collaboration with Andre Tchelistcheff Architects and CarolEgan Interiors. The west terrace, ornamented with carved stone urns, looks out to a limestone fountain framed by hydrangeas.
Photo: Pieter Estersohn7/29A trelliswork arch frames a fountain at a 19th-century-style retreat in upstate New York, which was renovated by design firm McAlpine Booth & Ferrier Interiors and architect John I. Meyer Jr.
Photo: Jeff Herr8/29At a residence by architect Ken Tate and decorator Ann Holden in the southeastern U.S., the courtyard entrance is distinguished by an antique stone fountain from France.
Photo: Simon Watson9/29At landscape designer Fernando Caruncho’s studio in Madrid, a fountain anchors one of the entrance courtyard’s gravel circles, which are defined by hedges of clipped bay trees.
Photo: Pieter Estersohn10/29A stone fountain is the focal point of the tennis pavilion’s terrace at a Palm Beach, Florida, home by David Easton.
Photo: Richard Powers11/29Pigeon statues by François-Xavier Lalanne perch on the edge of a fountain at this home near Paris by architect Charles Zana; the sculpture on the brick wall is by Thomas Houseago.
Photo: Robert Reck12/29dam-images-decor-2015-07-fountains-amazing-fountains-01-wm.jpg
The classical fountain and pavilion at this northern New Mexico estate were made by Haddonstone. Homeowner Siri Hari Kaur Angleton-Khalsa worked with landscape architect Edith Katz on the design of the grounds.
Photo: Gordon Beall13/29dam-images-decor-2015-07-fountains-amazing-fountains-02-wm.jpg
Designer Juan Montoya devised this hacienda-style beach house in the Dominican Republic for Venezuelan clients. Crisscrossing jets of water in the courtyard’s fountain mimic those at Spain’s Alhambra palace.
Photo: Pieter Estersohn14/29dam-images-decor-2015-07-fountains-amazing-fountains-03-wm.jpg
A stone fountain punctuates the atrium of this Palladian-inspired villa in San José del Cabo, Mexico, crafted by design firms Marshall Watson Interiors and Stephen Morgan Architect.
Photo: Simon Upton15/29dam-images-decor-2015-07-fountains-amazing-fountains-04-wm.jpg
Balconies of wrought iron and turned wood overlook a star-shaped fountain at a Los Angeles home designed by architect Kevin A. Clark.
Photo: Pieter Estersohn16/29dam-images-decor-2015-07-fountains-amazing-fountains-05-wm.jpg
A fountain at a Palm Beach, Florida, estate echoes the blue of the Atlantic Ocean beyond; the grounds were overseen by Lang Design Group Landscape Architects.
Photo: Douglas Friedman17/29dam-images-decor-2015-07-fountains-amazing-fountains-06-wm.jpg
A spherical chrome fountain distinguishes the forecourt at the Los Angeles residence of designers Alexandra von Furstenberg and Dax Miller.
Photo: Derry Moore18/29dam-images-decor-2015-07-fountains-amazing-fountains-07-wm.jpg
Chatsworth House, the Baroque family seat of the Dukes of Devonshire, in Derbyshire, England, is surrounded by 1,000 acres of parkland. The Seahorse sculpture fountain was originally the centerpiece of a parterre designed in the 1690s. At rear is the 314-yard-long rectangular Canal Pond, which was added in 1702.
Photo: William Waldron19/29dam-images-decor-2015-07-fountains-amazing-fountains-08-wm.jpg
Devised by the Los Angeles landscape-design firm Modern Floristry, the Italianate garden in the entrance courtyard of this Beverly Hills home includes a pair of lead fountains from Authentic Provence.
Photo: Bruce Buck20/29dam-images-decor-2015-07-fountains-amazing-fountains-09-wm.jpg
Nemours, the 1910 Carrère & Hastings–designed Beaux Arts estate built in Wilmington, Delaware, for American industrialist Alfred I. duPont, underwent a $39 million restoration. The terraced lawn, the reflecting pool, the maze garden with its gilt statue as the centerpiece, the colonnade, and, in the far distance, the sunken gardens and Temple of Love were all rehabilitated. The grounds were reworked by landscape architect Rodney Robinson.
Photo: Gordon Beall21/29dam-images-decor-2015-07-fountains-amazing-fountains-10-wm.jpg
A terrace with a fountain overlooks the pool pavilion at a 1930s Georgian-style home in Houston.
Photo: Matthew Millman22/29dam-images-decor-2015-07-fountains-amazing-fountains-11-wm.jpg
On a lanai at this Hawaiian home, a large Balinese iron pot was repurposed as a fountain.
Photo: David O. Marlow23/29dam-images-decor-2015-07-fountains-amazing-fountains-12-wm.jpg
A fountain anchors a property in Montecito, California; the grounds were done by Santa Barbara–based landscape architect Sydney Baumgartner.
Photo: Timothy Hursley24/29dam-images-decor-2015-07-fountains-amazing-fountains-13-wm.jpg
Interior designer Emily Summers, architect Lawrence W. Speck, and landscape designer Mary Ellen Cowan collaborated on this fountain for a Dallas home’s outdoor dining area. “It provides animation as well as gentle, ambient sound in the garden,” Summer says.
Photo: Simon Upton25/29dam-images-decor-2015-07-fountains-amazing-fountains-14-wm.jpg
A 17th-century fountain decorates the arbutus garden at Cigarral de Menores, the Marquess and Marchioness of Marañón’s estate in Toledo, Spain. The home was restored with the help of landscape firm Marañón Longoria.
Photo: Simon Upton26/29dam-images-decor-2015-07-fountains-amazing-fountains-15-wm.jpg
The swimming pool at this 18th-century Marrakech riad features a 19th-century Indian fountain.
Photo: Dan Forer27/29dam-images-decor-2015-07-fountains-amazing-fountains-16-wm.jpg
A limestone drive wraps the fountain at the entrance to the Biscaya Island, Florida, house of architect Robert M. Swedroe and his wife, Rita.
Photo: Oberto Gili28/29dam-images-decor-2015-07-fountains-amazing-fountains-17-wm.jpg
Boxwood hedges lead to a 17th-century fountain and an 18th-century statue at Villa Bucciol, a historic residence in Venice.
Photo: Nikolas Koenig29/29dam-images-decor-2015-07-fountains-amazing-fountains-18-wm.jpg
A stone fountain graces a parterre that landscape designer Matthew Brown created for a 1935 Los Angeles home.
