Santa Rosa’s Ruth Asawa fountain set for construction in spring

Engineers will begin reinstalling Santa Rosa’s cherished fountain, designed by the late acclaimed San Francisco sculptor — Ruth Asawa — likely, in the spring.

The fountain, originally installed in Santa Rosa’s square in February 1987, is set to make its debut in 2023 on Old Courthouse Square’s Third Street side, according to Tara Thompson, the city of Santa Rosa’s Arts and Culture manager. However, a date for the fountain’s completion has yet to be determined.

The future of the fountain — which contains newly added bronze panels that are embossed with images depicting Sonoma County’s rich history and culture — is promising, but it’s been a steady four-year process bringing the decades-old, beloved fountain back to the square.

Its reintroduction was initially set for 2021, however, delays due to changed plans — swapping concrete for bronze panels to address its deterioration, waiting for approval from City Council, and issues coordinating with structural engineers, slowed the process down, said Hugh Futrell, chief executive of Hugh Futrell Corporation, who’s managing and funding the fountain.

The foundry, city consultants, and the corporation’s staff met last week to discuss the method for attaching panels to the fountain. As of Jan. 25, they were working on finalizing the fountain’s plan, according to Thompson.

Once that’s done, staff will submit the plan to city officials, get it approved and begin.

“Once we get that permit, we’ll bring it into completion as quickly as possible,” Futrell said.

In 2016, four concrete panels were detached from the fountain and kept at an East Bay fine art storage as part of the demolition of Old Courthouse Square — a part of a $9.2 million project to reunite the two sides of Old Courthouse Square cut in half in 1966.

In 2021, city consultants discovered the conserved panels had deteriorated and made the decision to cast the panels in bronze instead.

The fountain can be completed in 135 calendar days, Futrell said Wednesday. Although an estimated time to attach the panels to the fountain is unknown, he added.

Santa Rosa’s City Council in 2021 approved $300,000 of PG&E settlement funds for the panels. That number is an estimate for making molds, complete engineering, cast in bronze and installation, Thomas said.

Beside the Hugh Futrell Corporation, the fountain is also funded by the Downtown Action Organization — a nonprofit board that oversees the district.

When Asawa debuted her bas-relief friezes depicting Sonoma County's history and its coastal beauty in 1987, it was cast in concrete instead of the artist’s suggestion — bronze.

City officials, at the time, cited budget constraints and decided not to move forward with Asawa’s preference. The fountain, though, will turn out closer to the artist’s vision after all.

“We’re creating something closer to her vision,” Futrell said. “This will be a spectacular addition to the city.”

You can reach Staff Writer Mya Constantino at mya.constantino@pressdemocrat.com. @searchingformya on Twitter.