Potential Landmark

COPPINI FOUNTAIN/BLUFF BALUSTRADE AND TUNNEL
500-600 UPPER/LOWER BROADWAY STREETS

The Broadway Bluff Improvements turned a forty-foot muddy hillside into a pleasing site and connected the hillside known as the "Bluff" between uptown and downtown. The plans, drawn by Alexander Potter of New York City in 1913, lined the Bluff with six staircases, a three foot high ornamental balustrade, a retaining wall, and landscaping. In 1914, the Daughters of the Confederacy commissioned Pompeo Coppini to design a fountain for inclusion within the Bluff area at Peoples Street. The fountain symbolizes Corpus Christi as a young woman known as "Queen of the Sea" with "keys to success" in her hand with Mother Earth on one side and Father Neptune on the other. During this time, the architectural firm of Adams & Adams designed the tunnel component of the Bluff Improvements. The tunnel served as a passageway between uptown and downtown, specifically from old City Hall to the Robert Driscoll Hotel and the Wilson Building. Elevators in the three buildings ran to the tunnel level. At one time, several shops operated in the tunnel on a daily basis. In 1930, the Gold Star Court was added as a World War I Memorial along the Bluff area. In 1989, this property was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

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