From 1930’s Five Points to Modern Uptown: A Century with the Benedict Fountain

A few places in Denver tell a story that spans nearly a century — and two neighborhoods.

The Benedict Fountain, now located in Hungarian Freedom Park, was originally gifted to the city in 1932 by architect Jules Jacques Benois Benedict. Often called the Children’s Fountain, it first stood in Ebert Park in the Five Points neighborhood, where it became a welcoming gathering spot for local families.

Designed by Benedict, there’s some debate over its creation: some credit sculptor Julius Ambrusch of the Denver Terra Cotta Company while others say that it was made in Paris by artist Maurice Bardin. Either way, the 13-foot-high fountain, adorned with lions and frogs, quickly became a neighborhood landmark. In its early days, families from the surrounding Five Points community gathered at the fountain to cool off and hang out. Its wading pool was one of the few public spaces in Denver where children of all races played together.

If you live in Denver, you’ve probably seen Benedict’s influence (even if you didn’t realize it). His design can be found across the city in places like the Boat Pavilion at Washington Park, Woodbury Library, St. Thomas Theological Seminary, and the Wellshire Inn. A classically trained architect who studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Benedict combined elegance and proportion with creativity and craft, leaving Denver with buildings that continue to define its character.

When urban renewal reshaped parts of Five Points in the 1970s, the original fountain was relocated to Hungarian Freedom Park, where it still stands today. It’s just a short walk from SOVA on Grant, one of our high-rise, residential projects in Denver’s Uptown neighborhood; the original park, where the fountain once brought the community together, was renamed Benedict Fountain Park and remains only a lunch-break away from our office in Five Points.

We love that continuity…where the city’s history and architecture intersect, and where a short walk connects a 1930s landmark to the Denver we help design today.

Sources:

“The Architecture of Jules Jacques Benois Benedict in Colorado.” History Colorado. https://www.historycolorado.org/architecture-jules-jacques-benois-benedict-colorado

[Architecture Minute]. (2023, July 23). “Forgotten Architects: Jacques Benedict” [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/h2n_B_Uec24?si=_EIfyNxT47eJO_4j

Williamson, Calvin. (2022). Northeast Denver Love & History [Facebook page]. Facebook. Retrieved October 10, 2025, from https://www.facebook.com/groups/DenverWhen/posts/5635600209794957/