Rookwood Pottery Drinking Fountains - Willys-Overland Administration Building

Rookwood Drinking Fountain - Willys-Overland Administration Building

The Rookwood Pottery drinking fountains were part of the original construction of the Willys-Overland Administration Building. When John North Willys took over the Overland Car Company, he transformed it from a company that couldn't make payroll to selling every car it could build. When the Pope-Toledo factory was bought in 1909, a building boom started in order to increase production. One of the buildings that was built was a new administration building. A decision was made to building this in a rather grand style to show the status of Willys-Overland in the automobile industry. No expense was spared. The building was built on a monumental scale to house the hundreds of office employees.

Willys-Overland Administration Building

Intricate Moldings and Detail of the Ornate Willys-Overland Administation Building

Grand Lobby of the Willys-Overland Administation Building

One of the many ornamental elements of the building was the Rookwood Pottery drinking fountains. Rookwood was a high end artisan pottery company that was on the same level as Tiffany was. There were a total of 14 fountains created for the seven floors of the building. They were basically the same except the ones on the executive floor (5th floor) had a fruit tile border instead of a plain white border.

Drinking Fountain Near Board Room in the Willys-Overland Administration Building

Blueprint section showing 5th Floor drinking fountain

Blueprint section showing other than the 5th Floor drinking fountain location

The 14 fountains were purchased from the Kent Turner Mantel and Tile Company who was located in Toledo, Ohio. The cost of the 14 fountains was $2475. In 2022 money, that was $66038.39.

Kent Turner Mantel and Tile Company

The contract was for the fountain itself. The plumbing was to be handled by Groenwald, Lang and Gardiner Plumbing of Toledo. The fountains are missing their plumbing parts. But they did have special nickel plated parts.

Fountain Plumbing Parts

The $2475 for the fountains themselves were just a portion of what it cost to have chilled drinking water in the administration building. To achieve this, a Audiffren-Singrun refrigerating machine was purchased from H.W. Johns-Manville Company of Cleveland, OH for a cost of $8940. ($238,538.67 in 2022 dollars). This system used brine and ammonia. To use this kind of system in a building like this was a real luxury and showed how over-the-top the design and constuction of the building was. The Audiffren-Singrun machine was a French invention and the H. W. Johns-Manville Company were sole selling agents in the United States.

Audiffren-Singrun Refrigerating Machine

Audiffren-Singrun Refrigerating Machine

Audiffren-Singrun Refrigerating Machine

Audiffren-Singrun Refrigerating Machine

Willys-Knight Hub Cap

Other details include:

Tire with wings at bottom of bowl

Rookwood Marking on bottom of bowl. 15 is the date code for 1915.

The standard border for the fountain.

The deluxe border of fruits for the fountain. This was in the executive suites.

Not sure if this is the original bubbler. It was on the third fountain at Fort Industry that I was not able to buy.

The fountains remained in the Willys-Overland Administration Building until 1979. Built to house 900 people, the building itself was in continuous use from when it opened 1916 to 1974. By that time, only 200 people were working in the building as American Motors (who now owned Jeep), did not need as office space in Toledo. The company tried to sell the building or give it to the Toledo public school system. It almost was sold in 1973 when a group of local investors agreed to take over the building for office rental and restaurant space, but the deal fell through. The building needed a new heating plant, air conditioning and repairs. After 1974, the building was vacant. Because there was a great need for parking spaces, it was decided to demolish the building. A company was brought it to sell fixtures (or anything detachable for the building). It was during this time that the fountains were sold. The first photo shown was from that 1979 sale and it looks like they were being sold for $500.

Willys-Overland Administration Building - Implosion

Three of the fountains were bought by Jeffrey Drake and Dr. Robert Hauman to create a "living history museum" in a development called Fort Industry Square. This was a block of office and speciality shops. The plan was to furnish the inside with antique items.

Fort Industry Square

Fort Industry Square

Fort Industry Square

Fort Industry Square wasn't a huge success with bankruptcies occuring the in the 1990s. A lot of it remained empty. In 2019, Fort Industry Square was bought by a company that planned to turn the building into a mixed-use residential, office, retail, and entertainment project. Much of the fixtures inside will not work with the planned rehabilitation. So in September 2019, the fountains were sold at auction to a architectural salvage company in Youngstown, OH.

Fountain #1