Conservatory Fountain


Located near the rear entrance to the Conservatory stands a cast-iron ornamental fountain, featuring a snake coiled around the figure of a boy, atop a granite shaped ball.

This style of cast-iron fountain was made in Coalbrookdale, Shropshire England around or before 1900. As a fountain its original location is unknown in Melbourne. Records show that in the 1920s it was sited on a small reserve at the corner of Russell and Victoria Streets, fitted with water bubblers and used as a drinking fountain.

It was moved to Fitzroy Gardens after a car damaged it in 1980. Council decided to relocate the fountain east of the Conservatory and fit new drinking taps. In 1996 the area to the rear of the Conservatory was redeveloped, the cast-iron figure was turned back to an ornamental fountain in the middle of a shallow pool. Now known as the Conservatory Fountain (Boy with Serpent).