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A look inside the Lake Eola fountain, Orlando's icon zapped by lightning

When lightning zapped the Lake Eola fountain three weeks ago, Orlando's most well-known symbol was already showing its age. Its changing spray patterns were down to just two: high and low. And it was only partly illuminated.

But now that a Florida thunderstorm has stopped the cascade of water that partially masked the 52-year-old's wrinkles, its shortcomings have never been more obvious.

City officials are still trying to figure out how to fix it, how much it will cost and where to get the money. Technicians are finding no shortage of problems, including electrical and mechanical systems that were already breaking down before the lightning bolt hit.

"Mechanically, in my opinion, it's obsolete," said Luis Garcia, an electrician for Ferran Services & Contracting who spent years working on the fountain. "It's been hard to keep it running."

But it wasn't always so.

The fountain was completed in 1957 and called the Centennial Fountain to mark the 100th anniversary of the naming of Orlando. In 1965, it was renamed the Linton E. Allen Memorial Fountain in honor of the local banker who pushed for its construction after being inspired by fountains he'd seen in Europe.

When the fountain was switched on, the Orlando Sentinel gushed that "the crowd gasped as the main spout shot water 75 feet into the air, the multi-hued lights came on, and smaller spouts around the fountain's rim threw a fountain of water around the beautiful edifice."

From the beginning, the fountain has had its detractors. It may have been inspired by the great fountains of Europe, but none of those had a 1950s-chic seafoam-green plastic skin that glowed from lights within. Some joked that it looked like a flying saucer had splashed down in Lake Eola.

Boosters wanted the fountain built in the center of the lake, but there's a sinkhole there that's 80 feet deep, so it's a tad off-center.

Some 28 steel pilings 60 feet long were sunk into the lake bottom. It took 320 tons of concrete to fill the pilings and build the concrete superstructure that sits on top like a porkpie hat.

It featured three miles of wiring for its lighting system, which completed a multicolored changing sequence every 18 minutes. It pumped out 5.45 million gallons of water a day from a main jet that shoots straight up and other jets encircling it.

The fountain was supposed to cost $60,000, but the final bill totaled $162,000. It last underwent a renovation in 1988 at a cost of $300,000. And in the 1990s, workers twice had to cut a hole in the roof, once so a cargo helicopter could lift out the busted main pump and then hoist out a short-circuiting, 2,000-pound electric motor.

Before the lightning strike, it was mostly held together with elbow grease. The city pays Ferran about $54,000 a year to maintain the fountain. Crews of two or three technicians climb through a side access door at least once a week to check its systems. Because of corrosion from water, humidity and heat, workers must pressure wash the fountain and repaint the concrete every three months.

The plastic panels that make up the fountain's skin are the most visible sign of age. They have weakened, warped, sagged and cracked. The original manufacturer went out of business, so workers special-ordered a batch of color-matched Plexiglas panels several years ago. Whenever one breaks, they cut a new piece to size and bolt it in place, sometimes using a heat gun to mold it into shape.

But the most expensive damage hides inside the hollow dome, which is about the size of a small home.

Both motors are burned out, as are electronic controls that were already obsolete. Workers have tested about two-thirds of its 98 lights so far and haven't found any that aren't blown.

It's a punishing environment for technicians. The fountain's interior can easily top 100 degrees in the summer, and narrow concrete walkways are slick with algae growth.

Even so, its keepers have grown as fond of it as the Orlando residents who regularly visit the park.

"It's beautiful when it's running and you're inside," Garcia said. "You can hear the cascade of water all around you."


Copyright © 2014, Orlando Sentinel
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