place

Readymoney Drinking Fountain

1896 in London1896 sculpturesBuildings and structures completed in 1896Drinking fountains in the United KingdomFountains in the United Kingdom
Grade II listed buildings in the City of WestminsterGrade II listed buildings in the London Borough of CamdenGrade II listed monuments and memorialsMonuments and memorials in LondonOutdoor sculptures in LondonStone sculptures in the United Kingdom
Fountain of Cowasji Jehangir Readymoney in the Regent's Park in London, June 2013 (4)
Fountain of Cowasji Jehangir Readymoney in the Regent's Park in London, June 2013 (4)

The Readymoney Drinking Fountain, also occasionally known as the Parsee Fountain, is a Grade II listed structure near the middle of the Broad Walk footpath on the east side of Regent's Park, in London. It lies southeast of London Zoo, close to the highest point of Regent's Park, about 41 metres (135 ft) above sea level, in an area with few trees, making it widely visible across the park. The drinking fountain was erected in 1869, with the £1,400 cost funded by Sir Cowasji Jehangir Readymoney, a successful Parsee businessman and philanthropist from Bombay, as a token of thanks to the people of England for their protection of the Parsees in British India. The structure was built to the Gothic design of Robert Keirle, who was the architect of the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association. It was constructed by the sculptor Henry Ross, using 10 tons of white marble from Sicily, and 4 tons of pink and grey granite from Aberdeen. The main four-sided structure rests on three octagonal steps. The central white marble block has a pink granite basin on each side, with granite standing blocks on the ground beside each basin. Small apertures were included at the base of the central block to allow dogs to drink. Above each basin is a carved marble panel, with one depicting a lion and another a Brahmin bull, topped by a frieze decorated with inlaid stars and a triangular pediment resembling a gable. The central block rises to a gabled spire with a decorative terminal, with three pink granite columnettes rising to a single pinnacle at each corner. Three of the gables have a carved bust, depicting Readymoney, Prince Albert, and Queen Victoria, and the fourth has a clock. The drinking fountain was unveiled on 1 August 1869 by Princess Mary of Teck; she was a granddaughter of George III, and her daughter later became Queen Mary. It was listed at Grade II in 1970, and it was restored in 1999–2000 with over £400,000 of funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund. A modern plaque above the basin on the south face of the fountain reads: "This fountain erected by the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association was the gift of Sir Cowasjee Jehangir (Companion of the Star of India), a wealthy Parsee gentleman of Bombay, as a token of gratitude to the people of England for the protection enjoyed by him and his Parsee fellow countrymen under the British rule in India. Inaugurated by H.R.H. Princess Mary, Duchess of Teck, 1869. Restoration supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund 1999 – 2000.Further restoration work was undertaken in 2016 and 2017. The water no longer runs, but a modern drinking fountain has been installed nearby.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Readymoney Drinking Fountain (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Readymoney Drinking Fountain
The Broad Walk, London Marylebone (London Borough of Camden)

Geographical coordinates (GPS) Address External links Nearby Places
placeShow on map

Wikipedia: Readymoney Drinking FountainContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 51.53284 ° E -0.1506 °
placeShow on map

Address

Readymoney Drinking Fountain

The Broad Walk
NW1 4HH London, Marylebone (London Borough of Camden)
England, United Kingdom
mapOpen on Google Maps

linkWikiData (Q26319327)
linkOpenStreetMap (683034720)

Fountain of Cowasji Jehangir Readymoney in the Regent's Park in London, June 2013 (4)
Fountain of Cowasji Jehangir Readymoney in the Regent's Park in London, June 2013 (4)
Share experience

Nearby Places

Queen Elizabeth II Garden

The Queen Elizabeth II Garden is a two-acre public garden in Regent's Park, created to commemorate the life of Queen Elizabeth II. The garden was officially opened by Anne, Princess Royal, on 21 April 2026, marking what would have been her centenary. It has been developed on the site of a former horticultural nursery on the Broad Walk near the Avenue Gardens, which was decommissioned in 2018 following the opening of the Hyde Park Nursery. The project, led by the Royal Parks and designed by HTA Design, is intended as a tranquil public space for reflection featuring elements such as a pond, viewing platform, and planting schemes associated with the Queen. Costing about £5 million and supported by charitable funding, the garden also restores two acres of accessible green space in central London with multiple entrances and accessible pathways. The garden has been designed to enhance biodiversity by transforming the former brownfield site into a diverse "micro-mosaic" of habitats, including wildflower meadows, hedgerows, climate-resilient planting, and an ornamental pond. The redevelopment replaces former glasshouses and hard landscaping with features such as more than 40 trees, thousands of square metres of meadow and planting, and habitats intended to support insects, birds, amphibians, and mammals. Before opening, species such as hedgehogs, bats, bees, butterflies, newts, and foxes have been recorded using the site, reflecting a significant increase in ecological value. The design also incorporates sustainable water management systems, reused materials, and climate-adapted planting, while maintaining year-round horticultural interest and supporting pollinators through large-scale bulb planting.

Gorilla House
Gorilla House

The Gorilla House (later known as the "Round House") was built at London Zoo in 1932–33, on a site between Regent's Canal and the Outer Circle of Regent's Park. It was designed by the Modernist architect Berthold Lubetkin, with civil engineering assistance from Ove Arup, in the International Style. It was the first substantial building completed to a design by Lubetkin's firm, Tecton Group, and the firm's first building at London Zoo. It was designated as a Grade I listed building in 1970. The Gorilla House was commissioned to house the zoo's pair of gorillas from the Congo, Mok and Moina The main structure is based on a cylindrical drum made from 4 in (10 cm) reinforced concrete, painted white. The structure is divided into two halves, one enclosed and one open, with a semi-circular indoor winter enclosure to the north, and a low-walled open-air summer enclosure to the south surrounded by a metal cage. The entrance and exit doors are in small projecting wings to the east and west. It included a rotating semi-circular top-hung insulating screen, rotating around a central pivot and moving along rollers in a metal channel around the top of the building, that could be deployed in the winter to turn the outdoor space into a sheltered viewing area for zoo visitors, while the gorilla remained behind glass screens in their heated indoor enclosure. In the summer, the screen could be rotated away and concealed within the northern half of the structure, so the gorillas could live and viewed in the outdoor half of the structure. The northern half is lit by clerestory windows, topped by a flat asphalt roof. It opened in April 1933. The structure was later housed a series of different animals, including elephants, Kodiak bears, chimpanzees (from which the building is sometimes known as the "Chimps Breeding Colony"), koalas, aye ayes, and fruit bats. The rotating screen fell out of use and was fixed in place. After the successful Gorilla House, Tecton Group designed other structures at the zoo, including its Penguin Pool, also completed in 1934 and also listed at Grade I in 1970.