Cass Gilbert, born Zanesville, OH - (Design for Fountain, Ridgefield, Connecticut) - n.d. - T-Shirt

This is an architectural site plan, drawn in wash and ink, for a triangular civic fountain set where two streets meet in Ridgefield, Connecticut.

Visual Elements & Composition

Pale sand dominates the sheet, with warm grey, dark taupe and off-white built up in graded washes. A ruled frame encloses a rounded triangular plot bounded by a pale curb line. At its centre sits a circular fountain basin, flanked by two dark curved walls that pull the eye toward the water. A narrow walk runs from the basin down to the lower apex of the plot, and pale paths cross the surrounding ground to left and right. The text is set in spaced capitals: MAIN and STREET at the top, WEST and LANE at the bottom, with the caption DESIGN FOR A FOUNTAIN AT RIDGEFIELD CONN. and the scale SCALE 3/16" EQUALS 1 FOOT in the lower margin.

Meaning & Symbolism

The triangular outline follows the angle where the two streets converge, so the fountain turns an awkward corner into one composed civic space. The plan shows how a public monument would be laid out and approached, a focal point for the town rather than a view from street level. Cass Gilbert, born in Zanesville, Ohio, drew it as architect. He became one of the leading American architects of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, known for the Woolworth Building in New York and the Minnesota State Capitol in Saint Paul.

Read It Flat on Your Chest

A site plan is built to be read from above, and a tee gives it that same overhead view. The triangle, basin and converging paths sit across the chest, so the layout reads as a map of one place, with the lettering doing the wayfinding. Wearing it puts the composed corner of a 1900s town right where you can study its curves and street names.