Jubilee Fountain, Albert Square, Manchester

The Jubilee Fountain, located in Albert Square, Manchester, was built in 1897 based on designs by Thomas Worthington, with sculpture work by John Cassidy. It was restored in 1997 and is constructed from grey and red granite, sandstone, and bronze in a Gothic style.

The fountain features a hexagonal plan with three basins that decrease in size as they rise. It stands on three shallow, hexagonal steps made of grey granite. The largest basin at the base is hexagonal and made of red granite, featuring moulded sides and square piers with moulded caps at each of its six corners. The second, smaller hexagonal basin is crafted from sandstone and is supported by six colonettes, which consist of triple engaged shafts of red granite with carved capitals that hold up the overhanging corbelling of the basin's bottom. This basin has deep sides and a moulded band around its six faces, which carries an inscription in raised letters stating, "ERECTED IN THE SIXTIETH / YEAR OF THE REIGN OF HER / MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY / QUEEN VICTORIA ANNO / DOMINI EIGHTEEN HUNDRED / AND NINETY SEVEN." Above the inscription, the six faces feature blind tracery panels, with two faces having a raised central panel. The panel facing the town hall displays the coat of arms and motto of the city of Manchester, while the opposite panel features the coat of arms of the Duchy of Lancaster. At the apex of each of the six angles, there is a bronze gargoyle waterspout. The upper basin is a small, delicate, shell-like bowl set on a slender pedestal, surrounded by four single red granite colonettes with carved capitals. At the center of the bowl rises a finial made up of four engaged red granite shafts topped with a sandstone cap and a bronze dolphin.